Dammit Daria
by SexshiTiTePaNtZ
Summary: Jane and Daria return to Lawndale after many years away when their resolve is a shaken by a close succession of pitfalls in their relationship. At the risk of pushing Daria further into the depths of her depression Jane struggles against the walls her girlfriend still holds up. Jane must remind Daria why she's the person Jane cherishes most in this sick, sad, world.
1. Prologue Post-grad Pizza Belly

Hello readers,

Here is my return from a long hiatus of fic writing. Daria is a favorite show of mine that I have been anxious to write for and the inspiration finally came after so long. I am writing while working full time and in my senior year of college so updates may go from weekly to a monthly basis. I have posted the prologue and first chapter for your pleasure. Thanks and enjoy. If you have questions, comments etc. feel free to message me and reviews are always appreciated.

 **Dammit Daria**

 **Prologue**

 **That Post-Grad Pizza Belly**

Jane glanced up at a banner Trent had hung in their kitchen that read, " _Class of 2002"_ , she snorted at the gesture as she walked through the empty space. Aside from their humble furnishings and a few empty beer bottles on the table there was no presence in the room. She went down the hall to find him sleeping into the afternoon. He was in nothing but his boxers and he lay curled up into his side. She went to the other end of the hall where her room was and found Daria sitting on the bed. Daria's body sank between two heaps of blankets and a nested pile of clean laundry. Jane smirked at her as she narrowed knowing eyes towards her confidant. Daria's skin crawled at her best friend's piercing stare. Daria blanched and shrugged her shoulders with her usual groan.

"So what now?" Jane asked.

Daria groaned again.

"I see that your breakup with Tom has left you plenty of free time."

"How perceptive of you but it might also be that we just finished escaping hell." Daria replied.

"How's the head? I've never seen you stay up that late before."

Daria itched her nose and put her glasses on. Jane quirked a smile as she watched the girl wiggle her toes against the bottom of the bed.

"Want to go get some pizza?" Jane asked.

"I'm a bit queasy still but sure." Daria said with a reserved yawn.

"Here," Jane offered, dropping Daria's boot in front of her followed by her signature green jacket.

Daria grunted as she slumped down to pull her shoes on and Jane helped her into her jacket.

"All that cheese and grease will take care of the hangover." Jane said as she also got ready to leave the house. Jane drove them to _Pizza King_ after she borrowed the keys from Trent. The two gathered into their usual booth and exchanged words about the impending future of their post-graduation lives.

"You're getting soft around the edges, Morgendorffer." Jane said from across the table.

"Maybe and maybe you've got glaucoma." Daria grumbled back to her as they raised their sodas in a toast to honor the end of a long road.

"To College. I can't wait. What do you think we'll find when we get there?"

"Hmm. That the students are shockingly ignorant, the professors self-centered and  
corrupt, and the entire system geared soley to the pursuit of funding?"

"Hmmm, yes. You know that thing I said about you getting soft?"

"Yeah?"

"I take it back."

The pair traded smirks and slurped up the remainder of their drinks. Jane saw Daria turn her head out towards the window and her eyes trailed up and down Daria's jawbone. She admired how strong it looked and blushed when Daria caught her staring.

"Is there sauce on my face?" Daria asked.

"Ugh, no." Jane coughed as she looked away a moment.

Daria arched an eyebrow at her and nodded, "Wanna go back to your place?" Daria asked.

"Not eager to see your parents?" Jane chuckled.

"Not really." Daria claimed.

"Or is there another reason?" Jane quizzed as she got up out of the booth. Daria's face began to flush but she hid it by covering a hand over it. She hiccuped when Jane kept looking her way. Daria drove them back in Trent's car and they pulled into the driveway in silence. Jane was the first to go inside and found Trent guzzling Pop Tarts down with black coffee.

"Hey Janey." Trent greeted with a gentle smile.

"Thanks for the decorative touch," Jane answered, pointing up to the banner.

"Where's Daria?" he asked as he took another bite of Pop Tarts.

"She's coming in from the car." Jane shrugged as she poured herself some coffee in a chipped mug. Daria entered and Jane poured her a cup as well, handing it to her. They both sat down by Trent and everyone sipped their in the quiet stillness of the late afternoon. After that Trent got up to go play guitar and Jane took Daria out to the backyard.

"Cloud watching again?" Daria asked.

"Yeah help me find one to paint." Jane said as they laid down in the grass. On their backs they spread out with their arms and legs outstretched. Jane pointed up at a fluffy white cloud and Daria snorted at it, "Too cheery."

"There's one that looks like a kidney." Jane said.

"I'm thinking more uterus."

"I agree, what about that one?"

"The one that looks like a trailing intestine?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Will you depict it fleshy pink or decrepit with rot?" Daria asked as her finger traced the outline of it.

"Fleshy and pink?" Jane said with intrigue as she rolled closer to Daria, "What made you think of that healthy condition."

"Um..." Daria blushed at the question and muttered, "nothing."

"That's hard to believe your mind is always churning something out."

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

The afternoon lulled into a sunset as the day ended and the pair trailed back into the house. Jane painted at her easel while Daria laid on the bed watching TV.

"Glow-in-the-dark collectible kidney stones in a bottle in the arid downtown booth of the Scottsdale Art Fest! Next on Sick, Sad, World!" the TV blared at Daria's zombified face. Jane peeked over at Daria who had her chin propped up on her hands as her elbows rested against the top of the bed. She kicked her boots back and forth behind herself.

Jane mixed fleshy colors to paint over her pencil draft on the canvas of an intestine with tentacles devouring a skeletal woman. The paint squished around beneath her palette knife and Daria rolled over onto her back. Jane watched her and in the blank corner of the canvas she began to absentmindedly draw her below the skeletal woman.

After a few hours the wet acrylic paint was laid into the canvas. Daria yawned and got up from the bed to see what Jane was crafting up and her eyes widened when she saw the drawing of her in the corner of the painting. Her painted representation was laying on a stormy cloud wearing a sheer black dress and hooded veil. Beneath the sheer material Daria could see the slight curves of her nude form.

"I don't recall that being in my closet." Daria blurted out as she kept looking at the art. Jane nearly dropped her palette once she heard Daria's comment. Her cheeks flushed as she put her hands up to cover the Daria like figure.

"Wait," Daria said to an embarrassed Jane, "I was still looking at it."

"Oh, uh okay." Jane muttered.

Daria's eyes went back and forth across the canvas as she drank in all the details. She narrowed her eyes at the trailing intestines to the skeletal woman that had a striking resemblance to Jane. She perked her head to the side and made a sidelong glance towards her best friend.

"Why am I off to the side while you're being consumed?" Daria asked.

Jane licked her lips with apprehension and made a sharp inhale as she stared down at a wet brush. She wiped the bristles with a paint stained rag and wiped her hands against the front of her smock. Daria came closer as she noticed Jane's face become redder. They both looked down at their feet and then up at each other. Daria stared back over at the painting until Jane took off her smock and said, "I have something for you."

Daria observed Jane walk over to her bed and pull a gift box out from under her bed. It was a plain white box with no wrapping paper. She pushed the box into Daria's awkward arms and Daria gave her a lopsided smile. She pried the top off the box and pulled back the tissue paper to reveal a brand new black hooded sweatshirt with brass buttons down the front. The material was a thick woven canvas and it had deep pockets with zippers. She noticed he hood could be snapped on or off by clasps as she pulled it all the way out of the tissue and dropped the box onto the floor. She held it up in the light and then looked to Jane.

"Happy escape from hell," Jane offered with a grin, "It gets cold in Boston and I noticed your favorite jacket is getting worn out."

Daria took off her green jacket and gave the new garment a try. It was lined with soft cotton and she hugged it against her body as she crossed her arms over herself.

"I'm glad you like it." Jane said as she changed her shirt. Daria glanced over at Jane's back and saw the straps of her red bra before she put on a clean black tee-shirt. She tossed the one that had paint on it in the hamper nearby.

"What's got you all red?" Jane asked mildly as she walked towards Daria who cupped her hands over her face with the sleeves of her gift. Jane faced her square on and met her eyes. The best friends lingered in each other's presence and Jane noticed a stray bang hovering over Daria's glasses. She reached up to brush it out of the way until Daria flinched. Jane ran a hand through her hair and gulped on the lump she felt in her throat. Daria blinked a few times as she lowered her hands.

Jane inhaled deeply as she took inventory of Daria's soft features. As if on autopilot the two walked towards Jane's bed and shoved the blankets aside. Jane was the first to sit down on the wrinkled beige sheets that had been hidden beneath. Jane watched as Daria ran her hands over the top of the sheets, smoothing the folds caused by wrinkles. Jane sighed as she took a seat next to her best friend and relished in the fact that she was more than an arm's reach within her. It was quite rare for Daria to allow anyone to be in such close proximity of herself. Jane was honored to be the most trusted being in this girl's life and was contented by the fact that they needed no words about it between them. They could feel this trust branch between them with its rooting taken in the comfortable silence.

Daria looked her way and with pensive eyes she dared to gaze at Jane's bright blue ones. The dim light bulb from above caught the honey flecked centers of Daria's dark brown eyes. They both swallowed hard as they stared at one another, refusing to break away.

"So what now?" Jane whispered.

"There's a few weeks until Boston." Daria murmured as she witnessed Jane's face fold down from the tops of her brows to the dimples in her cheeks. Jane's chest fell with the raspy inhale of a sigh and her eyes closed. Daria saw a dramatic change in Jane's posture as her body noodled towards Daria's. Daria pulled away when she felt Jane's warmth coming towards her, causing her to flush from ear to ear with many shades of red. Daria's defenses puddled around her as Jane's limp body pooled towards her with the raven-haired girl's head now against against her slight chest.

"I'm going to do it." Jane said as the words dripped from her barely audible tongue.

Daria raised her brows and asked, "What is that exactly?"

"I have one more graduation gift."

"Oh?"

Jane clasped Daria's hands in her own and pulled them into her lap. Daria blushed at the gesture but gave no resistance as she was lowered to the bed on her back. Jane's shaggy mane of black hair cascaded over Daria's face like a curtain as they lay face to face with Jane's body on top. Jane's lips were barely within reach of Daria's as the two inched closer. Daria urged more physical contact from Jane as she opened up her arms against the mattress.

Daria's eyes bugged out of her skull as Jane moved in so close that the tips of their noses touched. A lock of Jane's hair brushed against Daria's cheek. Jane grasped Daria's hands even tighter as Daria's fingers wriggled beneath her grip against the sheets. She felt the hot breath of a tigress above her and she shuddered beneath it. Jane smirked at the reaction and kissed Daria.

They squeezed hands and Jane said, "Dammit Daria you're so beautiful," between mouthy helpings of kisses. Daria's heart drummed against her ribs as she replied, "you're easy to look at yourself."


	2. Chapter One Sharks Can't Sleep

**Dammitt Daria**

 **Chapter One**

 **Sharks Can't Sleep**

Jane shuffled out of bed and slinked her naked body into a black hooded sweatshirt when she heard the phone ring. The scrawny teenage body she had been accustomed to caught her off guard as she tried to shrug her now broad shoulders into the old sweatshirt from a decade ago. Once she managed to get something on to cover her body she ducked out into the hallway to the familiar Lane kitchen, where the phone still rang off the hook.

Jane's feet thumped against the old linoleum and crumbs of old food grabbed at her toes as she ran to the phone. As she picked it up off the receiver she looked out the window to the rain pattering against the glass amidst the late night thunderstorms.

"Hey?" She asked to whomever called.

"Hello this is the manager at Mom's Diner." Came a low pitched voice.

"Oh?" Jane squeaked with a flush of her cheeks.

"I was given this number by a young lady who knew your friend. She was asked to leave for the evening by one of our waitresses as we are now closing but the lady refuses to leave the premises."

"Daria?"

"How did you know?"

"Call it intuition," Jane snorted, "will you put her on?"

There was a pause while Jane heard rustling from the other side of the phone. The manager breathed into the receiver and said, "she shoved the phone away."

"Alright, I'll just drive over there myself. It should take me about an hour to get there from Lawndale." Jane told her as she scratched at her disheveled black hair.

"Alright I'll keep her until then."

"Give her some coffee er something else to get her bones going," Jane advised, "she probably won't move until I get there."

Jane hung up the phone with a sigh as she returned to her room and flicked the light switch on upon entrance. She searched along the floor littered with clothes of various cleanliness and reached for a pair of old jeans. She found a pair of slightly wrinkled old jeans that were cris-crossed with bleach stains and sniffed at them as she held them up in the air. Jane grunted with approval and slid into them, "I need to clean this place up," She murmured to herself as she fastened the buttons.

She found some black stockings curled up atop her blankets on the bed and quickly shoved her feet into them. When that was done she sat down on the crumpled heap of bed covers and faced towards the mirror that now sat on top of her old dresser. She glanced down at the indents in the carpet below indicating where the dresser had once been. "How many times will I move this furniture around before I'm over what happened?" She asked her mirror as she reached for her hair brush.

Jane draped her shoulder-length hair, that had been worn cropped for many years, over the front of her chest and combed out the minor tangles at the ends. Once satisfied she braided the length of dark locks over her left shoulder and pulled on a black knit beanie that rested loosely above her brows. Jane grabbed a pair of black boots that had replaced a few previous generations of former pairs. They were resting by the foot of the bed until she slipped them on and laced them up to her knees beneath the hems of her loose jeans.

Now boot clad, Jane walked over to her desk where her favored leather jacket rested over the back of a swiveling chair. She pulled it on over her sweatshirt and zipped the front halfway up before checking the pockets for her keys and wallet. When returning back over to the dresser she crashed into her easel. A cloud of dust hurled above it as it fell to the floor with Jane hurling the opposite way towards the bed.

She coughed into her hand with her back braced against the bed as she watched dust particles float in the air. The easel lay sprawled on the floor with a blank canvas next to it that had come unbuckled from the fall. The canvas had jagged pencil lines scribbled across it that spoke of her frustration. They looked quite old and faded beneath a succeeding layer of dust. Jane frowned at the fallen canvas and got back up onto her feet.

She made the last finishing touch by putting her hooped earrings in and turned out the light as she exited the room. The hallways creaked as her footsteps echoed through the barren frame of the dark house. The only sound texturing the quiet footfalls of Jane's boots were the soft snores of her brother, Trent. Jane lurked over to his open door and whispered, "my spirit animal," as she watched him sleep like a lead weight on the end of a fishing line. His mouth was gaped open and a trickle of drool escaped it onto the top of the pillow. She gave him a lopsided smile as she strolled over to his bulletin board on the wall.

"I see you've finally made use of my birthday gift," Jane chuckled as she noticed the dusty shrink wrap shredded all over his desk below. She glanced over at his work schedule which happened to be the only thing pinned up on the wine corks of the homemade bulletin board. She smirked at his midnight hours for the week that were listed below the name of the solitary night club in all of Lawndale, ' _The Zon'._ Jane found a scrap piece of paper nearby and scrawled a note on it with a cheap ballpoint pen. She wrote, "Picking up Daria, borrowing the car until you need to go to work at the bar. Love, Janey."

She smacked the pen down on the desktop and hurled towards the door once she realized how long she had been idling in his room. Jane went out to the garage and opened the back of it with a push of the newly installed door opener on the wall. She got inside the faithful blue muscle car and the engine roared as she turned the key. Jane fingered a piece of duct tape on the driver's seat that was coming loose as it stuck to the back of her jacket. She ripped it off and balled it up before chucking it out the cracked window on the driver's side. The duct tape ball rolled onto the top of a rusted rake as Jane backed the car out of the garage and into the rain.

The thunder had settled the rain down into a reasonable patter as it pelted against the windshield. Jane pushed the play button on the cassette deck as she drove out of their street. Tracy Bonham's "Shark's Can't Sleep" began to play as she headed towards the freeway. The headlights pierced through the darkness of a ten 'o' clock sky as the stormy clouds bustled against another clap of thunder. Jane enjoyed the late night drive leaving the freeway empty of cars. Lawndale was already amidst a slow cluster of suburbs that had not grown much in the last ten years but Jane thought about how nice it was to be joined by no other cars regardless of this fact.

The hour long drive in the rain whirred by as the Tracy Bonham mix tape was playing on the last of its reel. The fuzzy hum of the speaker system eased Jane's ears when the tape finally ended on the song "Freed". She pulled into a bout of nostalgia as she drove into the familiar diner's parking lot off the freeway exit. The now relaxed driver parked her brother's car next to the one she shared with Daria, an old '79 Buick Station Wagon with fading green paint. She turned down the headlights and locked the car up before approaching the dimly lit diner. She spotted a clump of auburn hair tousled over limp arms folded onto the table of booth seating as she looked through the windows of the restaurant. Jane raised an eyebrow at Daria's face being buried into the crooks of her elbows.

The manager, a perky young blonde, scurried to the door and held it open for her savior. Jane ignored the manager as she went straight for the slumped heap that was Daria.

The blonde followed her and said, "good I can go home," while wiping her hands over the front panel of her yellow uniform. Jane grimaced up at her remark leaving the manager squeaking with fright. Jane gently prodded one of Daria's arms and felt the damp sleeve of the green trench coat. The hood was also wet and drops trickled down from the top of it onto Daria's other arm.

The acrid stench of tobacco mixed with rye wafted towards Jane's nostrils as she said, "Hey Amiga, let's go home." No response came and Jane slid in next to Daria, gently brushing her side. Jane wrapped an arm around Daria's shoulders and Daria shook her head.

"I'm not mad about the drinking. We can mull it over in the morning. Come on, let's go home now." Jane pleaded. Daria's form trembled beneath her which caught Jane off guard. The sober woman eyed her compatriot with curiosity as she stroked the top of her head.

"What's wrong Morgendorffer?"Jane asked.

Daria tilted her head up a slight bit to reveal closed eyes and a wet nose. Daria's eyes were red and puffy with tear stains and her wide rimmed black glasses had pressed red marks into her face while against her arms. Jane sighed as Daria hiccuped at an oncoming tear and swallowed back a sob. "You smell like Zon in a bottle. Let me drive you home, we'll come back for our car tomorrow okay?" Jane urged as she pressed her hand against Daria's arm. Jane's recent growth spurt left her taller than her fellow chick as Jane rested her chin on top of Daria's head. Daria rested her cheek against Jane's chest and listened for the steady heartbeat. Daria was the same slender being she had always been and fit perfectly in Jane's long arms. Daria had not cleared the height of 5"2 in the last several years and would seemingly remain as such.

The manager tapped her foot with impatience and Jane waved a dismissive hand at her. The blonde girl rolled her eyes at them. Jane took the bookworm's hand and guided it up from the booth as Daria dragged behind. The back of the trench coat rustled against the faux leather of the cushioned seating as they walked towards the door. The manager had her hands on her hips as she glowered at the customer that had overstayed her welcome. Jane refused to turn around with her back to the diner. The manager slammed the doors and made a regretful squeak when she found a twenty dollar bill left on the table with the already paid check.

The rain had softened a touch as they walked towards the car. Daria stumbled a few times as she leaned against Jane's arm. Her boot collided with a chunk of cracked concrete and it nearly sent them to the ground until Jane grabbed her arm and slammed her own boots against the slick surface.

"Wait here," Jane told Daria before walking over to the passenger side door and opening it. She came back and scooped Daria up into her arms with a grunt. She carried her the few feet left to the car and laid her down in the front seat. Jane kneeled down and found the lever under the seat to push it back into a recline. Daria turned her head away and fell asleep with a sniffle. Jane shut the door and got into her own seat. Before she turned the engine on for the journey home she unfolded a plaid blanket from the back seat and laid it over her sleeping companion. Daria wriggled a bit at the touch but didn't wake up as Jane tucked the ends around her.

Once satisfied she pulled a case of cassettes from beneath her own seat and switched out the mix tape with "Veruca Salt's Greatest Hits". The stereo rumbled with the raspy guitar strings of "Earthcrosser" as Jane pulled away from the diner. She checked the battery powered clock that Trent had rested on the dashboard and it read eleven and a quarter hour on the digital numbers. Jane frowned at how much time she had spent in the diner until she heard a soft yawn from Daria. Her fierce blue eyes melted at the sight of Daria nuzzling her cheek against a strip of duct tape covering the torn leather.

"What'll I do Amiga? Why won't you come back to me?" Jane asked her as she looked on at the open freeway. Jane's mind wandered into the late night as the drive began to bore her. She began to recall past events...

"Why won't you open it," Daria said with sweet silk in her voice. Jane narrowed her eyes at the gift sitting in her lap as she blew the steam away from the top of her mug of coffee. Daria crawled closer to Jane and the mattress on the rickety bed frame creaked beneath them. "Careful," Jane whined as she guarded her coffee from spilling on the sheets by cupping her hand over the top, "Your enthusiasm is scaring me. Did some ritalin get slipped into your coffee this morning?" Daria rested her chin onto Jane's shoulder like an eager puppy while she waited for her to open the gift in red wrapping paper. Daria hugged her legs to her chest and leaned deeper into Jane's side. Jane chuckled and wrapped an arm around Daria.

Jane handed her coffee to Daria and said, "you can have some but leave half for me," as she finally tore at the paper. The hair on her arms pricked at the flannel sleeves of her red pajamas when she saw what was hidden beneath the top of a small white box. It was a set of three keys on a key ring with a keychain with the Boston Fine Arts College emblem. She ran a hand through her bobbed black hair with a gasp and her eyes widened. Daria sipped the coffee as her eyes glinted with excitement.

"Is this the keys to that apartment?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, the one a few blocks away from your school," Daria murmured between blushes, "I finished the lease yesterday."

Jane turned to face her and kissed her, "We can invite the hoboes from downtown into our leaky loft then," she said.

"Surely they'd prefer the five-star accommodations provided by the freeway overpass," Daria answered while sipping more coffee.

"A grand start to my third decade of life," Jane cheered, "this is turning out to be a good year." Daria's lips upturned into a faint grin as Jane jingled the keys while kissing her auburn mistress on the forehead. Jane took the coffee from Daria and gulped down the rest of it.

Jane hurled them up off the bed with keys and empty mug in one hand and a Daria in the other. Daria groaned at being moved as she dragged into Jane's embrace. Her black hooded sweatshirt dangled past her knees as Jane twirled her into a dance around the room. The floorboards creaked under all the commotion with Jane circling Daria in her arms. Jane's blue eyes melded into Daria's rye colored ones. The art student ran over to the stereo and played Tracy Bonham's, "Shark's Can't Sleep" to celebrate.

"You're smiling," Jane whispered into her vixen's ear, "so unlike my girlfriend."

"A comment like that wipes it away," Daria scoffed her brows raised.

"My little curmudgeon," Jane purred as she pulled her girlfriend into an embrace. Daria grunted back and she rested her head against Jane's chest. Jane's hands wandered below her chickadee's waist to the cleft of her flat bottom which was veiled by blue boxer shorts. Daria squeaked when Jane gave one of her cheeks a squeeze.

"Its the best when you make that sound," Jane giggled.

"I could delight you with the sound of your own choking when I strangle you for doing that." Daria griped.

"What happened to your perk?" Jane teased.

"It flattened out with my ass," Daria replied.

"That's okay I like it small."

Daria swayed back and forth with Jane's lead while the song faded out.

Trent's car complained as it was driven over the speed bumps of Howard Drive. 'One-one-one' shined under the headlights as Jane pulled up the driveway. She opened the garage from inside the car and was surprised to find Trent emerging from behind the door. He was dressed in patched up jeans and a Mystik Spiral tee with a leather jacket over it. He was running a small comb through his shaggy black hair while he backed up enough for Jane to pull the car in. Trent saw Daria in the passenger's seat and asked, "Hey Janey, need me to carry her in again?"

"No I got it this time," Jane said over the rumbling engine, "open the door for me though." Trent nodded as he pulled at the handle of the door.

"It won't open. Jiggle the lock from inside." Trent told her just as she was about to get out. She thrust back into her seat and reached for the lock by the window. Jane tried to give it wiggle between her fingers as the the old pin screeched. It finally budged after a few tries and Jane called, "When will Jesse fix this?" Trent shrugged at her as she returned outside the car and strolled over to Daria's side. She scooped Daria's still sleeping form up in her arms with the blanket trailing behind. It was about to slip off until Trent pulled it up over her. Trent saw Jane's right arm shake and stopped her, "Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Its nothing. I have her." Jane told him as she heaved Daria towards the door.

"Janey did you carry her out of the diner?" Trent asked as worry washed over his face. Jane protested as her brother took Daria from her, "I'm fine."

"Janey your arm hasn't healed yet," Trent scolded as he carried Jane's treasured bundle to the room the women shared. Jane followed behind with grumpy murmurs as Trent ignored her. Daria wriggled a bit as Trent carried her towards the bed and he gently laid her down on the nest of blankets once he was inside his sister's room. "I'm goin' to work. Will you put the Poptarts by the toaster for me?" he asked as he walked back towards the hall.

"Yeah, I'll set up the coffee maker for you too," Jane replied as she began unlacing Daria's boots, "your alarm is set for eight."

"Set it to nine. I don't have to be at my next job until nine-thirty." Trent told her as he made it down the hall to the garage door.

"Wait," Jane called, "I need to get our car at the diner parking lot and I don't think Daria will be up for driving. Will you help me go pick it up?" Jane asked.

"Sure, wake me up when you need me." Trent shouted from the garage before shutting the door. She heard the engine sputter as it drove away and that was the last of Trent for the night. Jane plopped Daria's boots on the floor and tended to the buttons that closed her knee-length trench coat. Underneath the folds of the large coat Daria wore a black cable knit sweater that hung loose on her scrawny torso and a wool gray skirt with black leggings. Jane saw that Daria's black stockings were coming off from having her shoes removed and slipped them back up into place. She pulled her girlfriend's glasses off and set them aside on the dresser. Jane got undressed down to her sweatshirt and returned to the bed. Daria had rolled over onto her side, facing Jane, and was hugging a pillow to her chest so it hid most of her face. Jane smiled as she climbed down into the bed and scooted towards Daria. She secured an arm around Daria's waist and heard muffled wails beneath the pillow. This startled her and she peeled it back to reveal the frail misanthrope crying in her sleep. Jane grimaced as she reached up to brush Daria's cheek. She noticed that her girlfriend was noticeably thinner with shallow cheeks and her skin had an unhealthy tinge of yellow.

"A steady diet of whiskey and grief is doing wonders for your appearance," Jane whispered while petting the crown of Daria's forehead. She brushed the auburn bangs away and planted a kiss on her lover's brow. In response Daria cuddled closer to Jane and reached out from behind the pillow to grab at her. They returned each others affections by holding their bodies closer together and Jane followed her lover into sleep shortly thereafter. Dreams of the past visited Jane again...

"Daria put it down!" Jane shouted at her playful vixen as a tube of paint was stolen from her grasp. Daria made an uncharacteristic giggle while she ran circles around her distraught lover. Jane crossed her arms over her stained smock and accessorized with a scowl. Jane rolled her eyes at Daria as she returned to the easel for another color to fill her tray. Daria crouched behind the couch next to the only window near the brick wall of their small studio apartment. She clutched the suede arm of the couch that had once been in her parent's living room to steady her balance as she leaned all her weight down onto her bent knees.

Jane busied herself with a dirty brush by wiping it off with a rag until she caught out of the corner of her eye Daria's hand grabbing at another tube of paint.

"Hey, I need that green." Jane called from across the room when her lover ducked back over to the couch, "I thought you had to finish that Melody Powers chapter for the week."

The raven-haired painter smirked with resignation as she threw down the brush and tossed off her smock. She kneeled down beneath the table that held her paints and with a piercing blue gaze she darted her eyes around the room in search of mischievous prey. The tigress licked her lips and got down on all fours when she spotted an unsuspecting Daria at the foot of their double bed. She crawled quietly with gentle hands and sock laden feet towards her crouching girlfriend.

Daria squeaked when Jane came diving towards her in a full pounce. She tried to roll away with the paint in an effort to dodge the tigress but failed as she was pinned by Jane's own weight. Daria's lips quirked into a lopsided smile when Jane dove at her with thirsty kisses. The flirt whined as Jane kept punishing her with grapples of affection, pinning her arms by the wrists. Jane quenched her lust with a trail of butterfly kisses starting from the nape of Daria's neck and ending at the soft tip of her nose. Their eyes met at the close of Jane's lips and both women were so contented they did not bother to smile. There was a long pause as they kept their gaze with each other locked.

Daria's grip on the paint loosened as Jane groped at her favorite person's fingers until she could clasp Daria's hands. The tubes of green and blue rolled off to the side and clattered on the wooden floor as they broke the deafening silence. Jane inhaled the sweet aroma of Daria's skin as she mentally counted each freckle that dappled Daria's pale skin. Their rendezvous in Hawaii had given the bookworm more sun than she would have normally cared for but Jane found them irresistible as they banded the face of the person she cherished. Daria smelled of the yellowed pages from fresh thrift store books and the soft hint of sandalwood intermingled with pine.

Jane frowned and said, "Awe you need more sun. There's less than last time I counted."

Daria gave a smug chuckle and remarked, "I'm okay with them fading."

"But dammit Daria they're adorable." Jane groaned. Chest to chest the two women kept their eyes still held together. Jane heaved a deep breath into the pit of her lungs as she savored her lover's scent. She let go of Daria's right hand and fondled at the stomach covered by Daria's black hooded sweatshirt.

"Wait Jane," Daria said to Jane's surprise as her wandering fingers were halted by her lover's clutch. Flushing rose blazed over the shy woman's face from ear to ear as she lurched her chin up to Jane's mouth. Jane's toes curled at the deep kiss and she felt her whole body tingle as she rested her forehead atop her girlfriend's. Shafts of sunlight crept through the Autumn clouds and shined through the parted blackout curtains that hung over the wide picture window. It lit Jane's face and she wrinkled her nose at the sudden burst of sun.

In an imperceptible change of waking life, Jane of many years later reached up and grabbed at her nose. The nose she swore had just wrinkled inside that tiny brownstone apartment of downtown Boston was suddenly lurched forward to the space within her childhood bedroom. She was in fact laying in bed with the same woman she had loved all along and her head had shot up from being stuffed in the pillow Daria still clutched. Lines of sorrow etched against the pale face that held no more freckles. Jane grimaced at her crestfallen lover and brushed auburn bangs away from eyes clenched shut. Daria grumbled as she bit her lip while asleep and was soothed at Jane's touch. Jane pinched her face in consternation, unsure how to restore a smile to this forlorn husk of what had been the very woman that made her spirit burn. The gritty misanthropic girl that proved to her that there was a fellow sardonic out there capable of reproaching the world more than herself. Jane tensed as Daria's grumbles became more pronounced and she cupped her girlfriend's cheek.

"Jane?" Daria rasped between chapped lips as her eyes snapped open.


	3. Chapter Two Whose Fault ?

**Dammittt Daria**

 **Chapter Two**

 **Whose fault?**

The rain pattered against the roof of Trent's car as Jane and Trent climbed in.

"When do you think this'll let up?" Trent asked his sister as he closed his flip phone.

"No idea. Daria's the one to ask that kinda stuff." Jane answered.

"Yeah." He drawled as his hand grasped the wheel while he turned the key with the other.

Jane frowned as she stared at the wall of the garage. Trent backed out of the driveway while closing the garage door with the button and glanced over at his clock.

"We should be at the diner by eight. I'll drop you off and drive straight back so I get to the piercing parlor in time. I have a double shift at the counter so I won't be back until tonight." Trent told Jane who looked over his way.

"Denise called in sick again?" Jane asked.

"Yeah it's a good thing too. I needed the extra hours for us."

"But you'll be running on four hours of sleep."

"Eh, I'll be fine. Your hospital bill is due this week Janey."

"I haven't forgotten."

"Make sure you go to physical therapy today. Make Daria drive you." Trent demanded with a hint of annoyance at Daria's name.

"Don't talk about her like that."

"You shouldn't be driving with that arm so soon and it's her fault the car is an hour away. Why do you keep cleaning up after her."

"I love her if you've forgotten."

"What about you?"

"What about me Trent? I'm fine. Daria is the squishy one in this couple. She always has been, you know that. Don't act like this is all new."

"It's not that it's that I worry about you Janey. You spend so much time taking care of her when she should be taking care of you."

"She never left my side after the accident. Other than some cries in her sleep she hasn't said a word about it."

"What's her silence on the matter got to do with it?"

"She thinks she'll burden me. She never was one for talking about feelings either."

Trent frowned as he fussed with the knob of the radio.

"Why defend her? She doesn't need it." Trent said.

Jane glared at him and kicked her boots up onto the dashboard as she crossed her legs up.

"Janey." Trent groaned.

She lowered her gaze at him and looked at an apple core on the floor.

They drove in silence on the freeway for a good fifteen minutes while a Van Halen cassette played. The gutsy metal strings garbled through the scratchy speakers as Trent kept his eyes on the road ahead. Jane counted passing road signs and watched dirt wash off the side of the freeway. Her mind drifted off to thoughts of Daria as the painted lines on the side of the freeway blurred by.

"Hey why don't you come on out." Jane said over the bed as Daria hid in Jane's blankets.

"That's alright." Daria shyly protested as she huddled into the sheets.

"Aw come on he doesn't know yet we'd just go into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Trent wouldn't care anyway."

Daria shook her head until Jane said, "I got Poptarts."

"Fine." Daria groaned.

Jane smiled and pulled the blankets back as Daria rolled out of the bed. She smoothed out her disheveled appearance as she straightened the wrinkles in the shirt she had borrowed from Jane and wiggled her bare toes. She fingered the tangles out of her hair and tossed it back behind her shoulders. Jane handed her glasses over and gave her shorts to put on under the long shirt. Jane took a quick glance in the mirror and shrugged at her own appearance. She had a few cow licks in black mop of hair but nothing else. She had her red tee shirt and a pair of black shorts on after she quickly got dressed. They scrambled into the kitchen and met Trent at the table while he drank coffee. He raised an eyebrow at the teenage girls in acknowledgment of their arrival. Jane got some cinnamon Poptarts out of the only box in the pantry and looked over to Trent, asking, "You want some too?"

He signaled with a thumbs up and glanced over at Daria when he noticed Jane's red lipstick smudged on her cheek. It was obvious to him that she had no idea it was still there when she relaxed into her chair. He smiled when he looked back over at Jane and with a mischievous glint in his eye he told Daria, "I approve."

Daria twisted her face in confusion at the cryptic comment but gave it no more attention beyond a turn of her head. He cracked his knuckles and pulled his fingers from their joints as he worked his way up to stretching his arms. Jane waited by the counter with a cup of coffee as she swirled the milk around in the cup. Jane broke the silence by announcing that breakfast was ready, "Come and get it your damn selves."

Daria took a plate from Jane after she dumped the warm toaster pastries unceremoniously onto the plate and handed Daria a cup of oily black coffee. Trent reached for the milk as he refilled his cup from the carafe. Jane joined them at the table and everyone ate in silence. Trent pointed to the newspaper flopped over on the table and Jane handed it to him. He ate one handed while skimming the contents of the pages.

Jane looked over at Daria and when their eyes met Jane gave a soft smile. Daria lowered her eyes at the cup of coffee and looked back up to Jane with a sheepish frown. The demure expression made Jane's smile wider. Trent raised an eyebrow at the quiet exchange and Daria gasped when she noticed him watching. Jane opened her lips to respond but her brother beat her to the punch.

"You have a little something on your cheek Daria." He said, pointing to his own face.

Daria frowned as she reached up at her face and Jane blushed. She avoided her brother's knowing glance and licked a finger. With her finger wet she wiped the smudge of lipstick away.

"So when did it finally happen?" Trent asked.

Daria blushed and kept her focus on Jane as if her friend was a life raft in this terrifying ocean swell. Trent looked to Jane with an anxious glimmer in his eyes.

"After graduation night." Jane answered.

He smiled and said, "Good."

The man of few words left the table to get more coffee and without being asked he refilled their cups as well. Jane looked at him with slight bewilderment and then back over to Daria, who still had not looked away from her.

"It's about time. You two have been aching for each other without even realizing it." Trent said with a matter-of-fact presence as he sat back down.

Daria lost control of her mouth as it gaped open. Trent grinned at the pair as he was met with their stares. Jane smirked over at Daria and ruffled her auburn hair as her mouth hinged back up into its usual stoic hold.

"Trent?" Daria called.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"No one else knows yet. Will you not tell anyone for now?"

"I'll leave that chore to you guys. Enjoy it for yourselves for now. It's only been a week right?"

Jane nodded at Daria in agreement and the pair finished breakfast. Daria became more at ease as she nibbled at her favorite breakfast pastry's cinnamon filling. Jane had strawberry filling all over her mouth and licked it off. With the last bites they swallowed their coffees to the bottom and Daria threw the paper plates in the garbage for everyone while Jane washed cups.

Trent watched as the couple was about to leave the room and waved Jane over. She came back to the table with Daria in tow behind her and he asked, "Do you guys wanna come to Maxie's farm in Swedesville? I'm taking the Tank out there for a week to play some local gigs and visit her. You'd probably get bored sticking around here so I figured I'd ask."

"Maxie?" Jane asked.

"The Tank still runs?" Daria remarked.

"She used to live in the house at the end of the street. We went to high school together. Her parents bought a dairy farm out in the countryside after her Dad had a heart attack." Trent told them.

"Oh yeah! She's got hair like Penny right?"Jane blurted out.

"Yeah, I knew you'd remember. She'd get a kick out of seeing you and she'd totally dig Daria."

Trent assured them.

Jane turned to Daria who shrugged. Jane raised an eyebrow and said, "I'll take that as a yes."

Daria gave her a rueful smile as she felt her tongue tie and her stomach toss. Jane could sense her nervousness and offered an arm. Daria's skin crawled at the open display of affection in front of Trent so Jane forced her way towards the meek girl. Jane wrapped an arm around her Amiga's shoulders and guided her back upstairs.

"Good talk." Trent called from the kitchen with mischievous grin.

A few days later Max dropped off the Tank for Trent and he spent the afternoon packing the car after he got up. Daria had been home last night before returning back to Jane's house. She arrived at the driveway carrying her travel bag.

"Oh you got all dressed up for me, showing some skin too." Jane said, pointing at a pair of khaki cargo shorts Daria was wearing along with a pair of thickly strapped sandals. Daria wore her usual orange tee as well but the sleeve of her green jacket was hanging out the side of the bag.

"Um, you said you liked these shorts so I put them on." Daria grumbled under her breath.

"What was that Morgendorffer?" Jane jeered.

"This is the last time I look nice for you."

"Oh come here grumpy pants." Jane pulled Daria into a hug.

"Eep." Daria squeaked when she saw Trent watching them.

"Nice shorts. Looks good." Trent called.

"It was hot." Daria muttered as she felt herself tremble.

"So uh when do we leave?" Daria asked the siblings.

"Tomorrow after we wake up." Trent said.

"Don't people on farms usually get up early?" Daria replied.

"Not Maxie." Trent told her as he shuffled a trunk aside.

"Come on Daria lets go get some dinner." Jane urged with a nudge of Daria's arm.

"It's only three in the afternoon." Daria told Jane.

"There's always time to eat." Jane replied.

"If you're going out to Pizza King will you bring me something home?" Trent called to his sister.

"Yeah," Jane yelled back, "it probably won't be for an hour though."

"That's fine." Trent answered while he banged around inside the van, beginning the process of organizing it into a trip worthy fashion.

Jane offered her car to Daria who shrugged. They took Trent's car to go eat pizza and split a whole pie. After they guzzled down some soda Jane poked at Daria's sandal clad feet with the toes of her boots. Daria wiggled in her seat at the sudden touch of Jane. The raven haired mistress cracked a smile at her muse.

"I should capture that sour face of yours in living color." Jane said with an amount of seriousness that Made Daria frown further into a grimace.

"Why so grumpy?" Jane asked.

"I don't what you're talking about this is my rest position."

"Well we will have to settle for that seeing as how you won't have a career in dancing."

"Cute."

"Yeah you are."

Daria groaned.

They returned to Casa Lane for a night of TV and a snooze before heading down the highway. Trent pounded his alarm when it rang at noon. He nearly rolled over back to bed until Jane woke him with the smell of coffee and warm pancakes. He could hear Jane and Daria giggling from downstairs. He smiled at the thought of the two of them being so happy. Trent pulled on his jeans from the floor nearby and slipped on a tee shirt before heading downstairs.

"Janey?" Trent called from the front seat of the car ten years later.

Jane had fallen asleep and muttered, "Daria."

"Janey? I have to go to work we are at the diner." Trent called out, nudging her shoulder.

Jane's eyes snapped open to the sight of an older Trent whose features did not show the years that had past. He still had that goatee Jane thought was silly but she never cared to tell him.

She brushed away a stray bang that had fallen out of her braid and pulled her beanie on tighter.

"Hey we're at Mom's. You sure you're up for driving? I'm sorry I argued with you about Daria but that's how I really feel Janey." Trent said to her as he glanced at her pale face.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine I need time to clear my head without anybody around. " Jane replied as she unbuckled her seat belt.

She went to open the door and the lock got stuck again. Trent left the car idling while he went around to open it for her. She gave him a quick hug much to his surprise and went over to the station wagon. She sighed with relief when she found no tickets on the windshield and then she got the key out of her pocket. She heard Trent's tires screech as he drove away. Jane felt the rain run down her neck as she ducked into the driver's seat. She turned the radio to an alternative rock station that still played music from her childhood. Blind Melon's 'Time' played over the old sound system with a muffled hiss from one of the rear speakers. Jane frowned at the funny noise and found one of Daria's shirts covering the speaker guilty of the hissing noise. It was her one of her old orange tee shirts that had somehow been retired to the back of the car.

Jane rubbed at her right shoulder as she let the engine warm up. She groaned at the joint that ached anytime the weather changed. She noticed that it only started hurting like that after the accident.

She wriggled her stiff fingers before driving back onto the highway. Jane smiled at the rain coming down and recalled more of the vacation at Maxie's farm with the nostalgic music in the background plummeting her memory back to happier times.

Daria and Jane bounced around sitting on the tailgate of Maxie's ancient Toyota Tacoma. The paint was peeling from the bottom as rust contrasted against white. Maxie was in the front with Trent and they were crawling over a dirt road at ten miles an hour. Jane laughed with Daria when they hit a particularly bumpy section of road. They could hear cows howling at them in the background in response to their laughter. This made Daria laugh even harder.

"I've never heard your little sister laugh so much." Maxie told Trent.

"Neither have I. Her friend either...or should I say?" Trent said, pausing in thought when he wasn't sure whether to tell Maxie after swearing to secrecy.

"What's up Trent?" asked his fair red headed friend with short spiky hair, the one they called Maxie.

"Um it's nothing."

"Okay."

"I swear really. If you're curious I would ask Janey. But don't tell her I made anything seem amiss."

"If it's something between you guys I won't pry. It's all good."

Daria coughed as a cloud of dust kicked up into her face from the tire. Jane propped her arms behind her head as she took in a deep breath once the dust passed. Daria turned her head to the thicket of trees nearby and smiled as her hair brushed past her shoulders.

"What if we owned part of a forest like this?" Jane asked Daria.

"How big is this farm?" Daria replied.

"Two thousand acres I think. Big enough to get lost in for sure. We could go stargazing out there."

"Does Trent have another show tonight?"

"Yeah but we don't have to go. We've gone to the last three. We can take the night off for ourselves."

"Um..."

"Daria it's okay. We've shown our support he wouldn't be offended."

Daria blushed.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Oh come on Daria."

"What if someone saw us out there, you know doing stuff."

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Oh what kinda stuff? I only said stargazing. Did you have something more in mind?" Jane inquired with a smirk.

"Uh... Well isn't it the romantic sorta thing couples do like in movies where they lay under stars on a blanket."

"Oh do go on."

"We could do that sorta thing?"

"I knew there was a hopeless romantic hiding under that apathetic shell of yours. I'll grab a picnic basket."

Daria blushed further when she realized the windows of the truck cab were down.

"Trent knows and Maxie doesn't care if she did but she probably didn't hear anything."

Jane glanced through the rear window of the truck cab to see if Maxie and Trent were looking back at all. She smirked and snaked an arm around Daria's waist. She leaned in for a quick kiss on Daria's cheek and then pulled back. Daria neither frowned or smiled.

Jane winked at her and whispered, "When the time comes can I introduce you as my _girlfriend_?"

Daria looked down at her knees, deep in thought for a long time. Jane worried that she had been too forward as time felt as if it were coming to a screeching halt amid a flow of brief and pure joy. She started mentally cursing herself for being so affectionate around other people, regretting not pacing things out. She ran over many scenarios in her head in which she thought she had upset Daria.

"Jane?" Daria called.

Jane gawked up at her.

"Jane I..."

"What's up Amiga?" Jane asked with gentle eyes.

"I'm going to do it."

"Oh?"

Daria's shoulders tensed and she took a deep breath, "I'm going to be your _**girlfriend**_ ," she said.

Jane tried to keep her mouth in place as it fought to kiss Daria. She managed an awkward smile instead.

"I guess what I say has been rubbing off on you." Jane said.

"Does it linger on your mouth?"

"Did you just flirt with me Morgendorffer?"

"Don't ruin the moment," Daria said as she closed her lips on Jane's own. Jane's eyes widened at Daria and she reached up to stroke her hair. They tumbled onto the bed of the truck and Daria was now on top of Jane, passionately kissing her. Maxie and Trent had the song 'Lullaby' by Shawn Mullins playing so loud inside the cab they were oblivious to what was going on in the back. The truck went over a rock and knocked Jane apart from Daria. Their foreheads bumped into each other as they laughed at the awkward moment. Trent peered over at the sound of giggles from the girls and raised a brow when he spotted them laying in the back. He smirked when he saw how flushed their faces were. Jane started kissing Daria again and they wrestled around in the back of the truck until it made it to their destination.

The four of them stayed at the barn and set up the musical equipment for Trent while he practiced. Maxie was hosting a solo concert for him that evening so he could get some more exposure. Locals paid a small cover fee to come see the concert at the farm. Maxie's parents were away for the weekend and gave her free reign of the property.

Daria and Jane decided to stay for a few sets, sitting near the front at a small table lit by a candle.

 _"Freakin' Friends_ sounds good on acoustics doesn't it?" Jane asked when she heard the song finishing. Daria nodded, fidgeting with the gingham table cloth that hung over her legs. She looked over at Jane with bashful eyes and blushing freckles.

"Oh?" Jane said as Trent did a cover of Sophie B. Hawkins' 'Damn, I Wish I was Your Lover'.

"Can we go to the woods now?" Daria asked.

"Sure."

The stars had spread across the murky blue sky like fireflies reflecting off the surface of a shallow pond. The air was still with not even a breeze on the humid Summer's night. The faint call from a cow could be heard in the distance as the girls rustled through the tall grass to the boundary of the forest. Tall Maple and Oak trees sheltered them as they began the trek to an open field Jane knew of being about half a mile into the thicket.

The night seemed to slow with each step into the unknown as the new lovebirds crept further into the forest's inner sanctum. Both girls were silent the entire walk there with Jane leading Daria by the hand through the dark. Jane felt a branch against her face now and then but she ignored the minor scratches. She would look back each time to be certain that Daria did not get whipped by trees.

Daria could feel the excitement rush through her chest as they passed the last stretch of trees to an open field of overgrown grass that rose up to their hips. It brushed past them, tickling them as they stepped to the center of the field. The greenery was at least a mile wide from edge to edge in a circular shape, sheltered by the forest that bound it. Daria's face gleamed in the pale moonlight as Jane looked on into her dark eyes. The moonlight managed to make the normally dark brown eyes lighten up like honeyed amber. Jane pulled the woman beyond her imagination into an embrace and whispered, "let's finish where we left off."

Daria smirked in response as they tumbled into the grass and began kissing. Jane lay on top of her, engulfing Daria's mouth with passionate lips. They clasped hands as they rolled over so Daria could take a turn being on top. In an unusual display of passion she reached up to cup Jane's face and then stroked her fingers through the softness of Jane's ebony locks while they shared another kiss.

Jane came up for air and said, "so much for stargazing?"

"I dunno what you're talking about. The view is just fine." Daria mocked.

Jane squeezed her hand, "I'll cue the moment where you say there's starlight in my eyes. I know you've been saving up for that one. You better hurry before I use that line." She urged.

"Oh Jane I cannot help but gaze at the starlit pools that are your eyes." Daria cried as she rested the palm of her hand against her forehead.

"That was pretty good, ever consider putting that pen away in favor of an acting career?" Jane jeered.

"That would never work it'd require me to be sociable and have people stare at me. Maybe Quinn could do it."

Jane smirked as she pinned Daria under herself with a quick roll to the left. Daria could see the rim of Jane's face lit by the moon as she dove in for more affection. Jane put a finger to her nose and whispered, "I'd rather you be a writer too I don't want anyone else to be able to stare at you like I get to. It'd be like eye rape."

Daria snorted at her last statement as Jane kissed her.

Incubus blared over the radio with 'Wish You Were Here' as Jane felt hot tears stream down her cheeks. She was driving home to Casa Lane and looked over at a post-it note stuck to the dashboard of the Buick Station Wagon that read, " _November 2012, call Melanie about Chicago and Los Angeles,_ " in Daria's scratchy handwriting. She began to sob to herself when she finished reading the old note. She did not realize an hour had passed as she pulled up to Howard Drive. She came into the driveway and before opening the garage she parked the car on the wet concrete. The rain smacked against the roof of the car while she left the radio on and the engine running. Jane wept as she held her head against the steering wheel. The car echoed with her muffled sobs as music played over her wails. Her shoulders tensed at a burst of fresh tears and she used the back of her sleeve to dab at her running nose.

She punched the note on the dash and nearly busted the radio. She crumpled the note up and shoved it in the pocket of the side door.

Jane looked to her left and then her right before resting her head again on the steering wheel. She returned to her private sobbing as she hugged her knees.


	4. Chapter Three Can Borrow My Blowtorch

**Dammitttt Daria**

 **Chapter Three**

 **You Can Borrow My Blowtorch**

"Daria?" Jane called through the house as her rain soaked body dripped onto the carpet upstairs. She called out her girlfriend's name repeatedly without any response back. She stepped on an empty liquor bottle and it crunched beneath her foot.

"Tequila? At ten in the morning?" Jane asked herself as she sighed at the broken glass of the miniature bottle with a hotel logo on the side.

"Daria I told you not to hit up the mini bar. They will charge that to our account after management finds out." Jane snorted to herself as she ignored the puffy feeling in her eyes that had become bloodshot from crying.

"Don't call management I am not allowed to have an open container poolside." Daria called from the bathroom. Jane heard a splash from the bathtub and opened the door to find Daria sitting in a hot bath with wet hair.

Jane raised her brows at Daria and said, "You smell like a cheap date in Baja. Will you brush your teeth when you get out?"

Daria gave her a saucy smile and nodded. Jane put a clean towel on top of the toilet seat for her while she splashed water on her face.

"Hey, why do you look like you just got out of the tub?" Daria asked Jane as she stripped off her wet clothes.

"It's raining," Jane replied, "Now scoot over so I can warm up." Daria sat up and moved over in the tub with a quick splash. Daria had her glasses off and her wet hair stuck to her face as did Jane's who leaned the back of her head against the tile. Daria rested her head on Jane's shoulder and asked, "How's the arm?"

"Ah kinda stiff. My knuckles aren't swollen though." Jane told her, rubbing the scarred flesh of her right shoulder. Daria reached over at the injured arm and smoothed her hand over the top of the knotting scar tissue that criss-crossed down to Jane's wrist. The fingers had the worst scars which were bulging and still flushed with red over the healing flesh. The gnarled flesh resembled pale tree roots against Jane's olive skin as it wove over her frail limb.

"It's looking better," Daria murmured as she held Jane's right hand for a moment before reaching up her chest. The scars edged around the collarbone on that side and then ended with tiny superficial marks.

Jane sighed as she looked away from her arm and to Daria's nose. She touched it and said, "I need you to drive me to my appointment later."

"Sure that's no trouble. What time?" Daria asked.

"In two hours." Jane said as her arms went limp in the hot water.

"Wait? The car is at the diner. Isn't Trent at work?" Daria asked with her brows coming together.

"He drove me to the diner this morning and I brought our car home." Jane explained while brushing at Daria's cheek.

"You drove? Why didn't you wake me up?" Daria asked as the anger rose over her face.

"You would have been hungover and you started drinking without me." Jane said, pulling away from Daria.

"That was your first time driving since the accident wasn't it?" Daria called out, reaching for Jane, "Please tell me if you're hurt. I should've been with you, weren't you scared to drive again?"

"It's nothing I'm fine, just achey." Jane replied, allowing Daria in again.

"Jane please."

"Please what? Wait for you?"

"Jane don't rush into things until you're feeling better."

"Daria I needed to drive. I needed to do something for us, for myself. I need some sense of normalcy in this shit-storm."

"Jane you know I'm here for you."

Jane was silent as she stared at the toilet tank across from them. Daria looked up at her with mournful eyes as she brushed her face. Jane refused to return her gaze as she felt the tears well up again, pushing on her eyes to force them back.

"What are you doing?" Daria asked as she reached for Jane's hands.

"Leave it." Jane croaked.

Daria lifted her head to see Jane's face and Jane covered her eyes with an open palm. She took a sharp inhale as she choked back a sob in front of the worried Daria.

"It's okay, You can cry." Daria whispered, kissing Jane on the cheek. Jane held her hand harder against her face and took some deep breaths to compose herself. Daria winced at the taller woman's pain and clasped a hand over Jane's own. Jane heaved another breath when she felt Daria's touch. As her breathing steadied she pushed her hand down to reveal her reddened eyes. Daria bit her lip but Jane refused to yield as she made another pronounced inhale. The air flared through her nostrils and onto Daria's damp face.

"I don't want to cry it all just feels worse when I do." Jane told her girlfriend as she relaxed her head against the wall.

Daria looked off at a crack in the wall and then turned to rest her head down on Jane again. When Daria hit up against the knob of her bony shoulder Jane slumped it down for her. They sat like that for so long that they did not feel time pass until the bath water became lukewarm.

"It's a little chilly in here." Jane said as her eyes stung from crying earlier.

Daria gave a muffled grunt in response with her face buried in the crook of Jane's arm.

"I wish it was as hot as the day I fell in love with you." Jane observed as she nudged her girlfriend out of sleepiness. Daria was the first to rise from the tub and she moved to help Jane up after she wrapped the towel left for her around her waist.

"What was it like?" Daria asked as she pulled another towel from the cabinet below the sink. She set that towel on the counter as she heard splashing come from the tub. Jane lathered shampoo into her hair and Daria sat down on the ledge of the tub as the towel draped around her legs.

"Help a girl out." Jane called, pointing to her sudsy dark hair.

"Perhaps if you answer my question." Daria taunted as she grabbed an old Tupperware container from the ledge that they left in the bathroom for just such purposes.

"Come on the water is getting cold now that your body heat is gone. You've heard that story so many times." Jane whined as she clutched at her shoulders to emphasize her shivering body.

Daria pouted when she filled the container with hot water from the sink.

"This is CIA class torture." Jane said, staring at the steam rising from the hot water in Daria's hands.

Daria smirked at her as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, you win." Jane called.

Daria smiled as she sat back down on the ledge and slowly poured the hot water over Jane's head. Jane felt the heat flare through her forehead as the water rinsed out the suds. She moaned when Daria ran a gentle hand through her wet locks.

"Well the first time I thought might have feelings for you was when you had that shitty job at the nut stall in the mall," Jane closed her eyes and her brows raised into an arc as she recalled her budding feelings, " I called your Mom from a payphone when I saw how unhappy you were. It worried me you know, it was like here was the person I cared about so much and without even having to think about it I just called her up."

"Its a nutty nutty world," Daria grumbled over the sound of more water she poured over Jane's hair.

"Quite I called her and knew I'd be able to get you out of work with a strike at your Mom's feminist nerves. That uniform looked pitiful on you too." Jane chuckled as she opened her eyes to Daria's warm face.

"When I got home later I burned it." Daria said with a smile as she recalled the meeting at Jane's backyard.

"Yup and I helped..." Jane hummed with approval.

The teenage girls were in Jane's bedroom at Casa Lane after Daria had made a stop at her place once Helen pulled her out of work. Daria tossed her backpack onto the mauve sheets of Jane's bed and adjusted her glasses. Jane crossed her arms at the backpack and then with a pronounced sigh at Daria she said, "Good you look normal. Got the goods?"

"Check." Daria offered, waving a hand at the backpack.

Jane opened the zipper and the creepy head of the squirrel protruded from inside the backpack. Jane pulled the costumed hat out along with the apron and clicked her tongue in approval.

"Where should we do the deed?" Jane asked, picking up her blowtorch and firing it up to check that the flame was in working order. Daria shrugged at her and gestured towards the bedroom door.

"Eh I'll stick with my parents one rule about no fires in the bedrooms. Let's take this masterpiece outside." Jane said as Daria grabbed the uniform and followed her confidant to the outside world. The sun hung low in the sky as dusk approached Lawndale. Jane watched Daria toss the uniform into a black trash barrel they had procured from the garage after finding the rusted grill Trent brought from off the street to be of no use. She caught herself staring at Daria's arms, admiring the fluid motion they made as she lowered the apron into the barrel. She looked on with subconscious yearning at Daria's hair as it cascaded over the bookworm's back against the green jacket. She felt a blush rush up to her cheeks and hid her face in the crook of her elbow when Daria raised her head Jane's way.

"Um does your nose itch?" Daria asked, pointing at Jane's partially hidden face.

"Nothing." Jane coughed out as she fired up her torch. She lowered the faceplate of the welding mask she now wore and Daria followed suit with the one she had borrowed.

"You should wear one of those more often." Jane said, fantasizing about Daria only wearing the mask.

"Mmmmm. If my writing career falls through I could always strike out for underwater welding." Daria replied.

"You wouldn't have to talk to anyone." Jane laughed as she began torching the squirrel's plastic eyes.

"That's what a typewriter coupled with whiskey shots and a cigar are for, I must live out my dream of being closed up in a basement." Daria said, joyously watching the squirrel blacken under her favorite girl's touch.

"That'd be good for your complexion. You wouldn't have to worry about getting too much sun. After all, Hemingway and Kerouac got too much of that out in the desert. I think it hurt their novels in the end what with those distracting sunburns."

"Long road trips in Mexico are overrated right? I could settle for the quiet life of Virginia Wolf. She locked herself upstairs, wrote a few books, and when she was over it she decided to go for a swim at age sixty-five. I'd prefer the downstairs of my house though, less drafty."

"Quite. Can't agree with you more. You should release some of that pent up rage over minimum wage nut bagging now. Here take a crack at it." Jane said, offering the torch to Daria.

"Uh I would. But how do you work this thing?" Daria answered with a reluctant grin.

"Here, it's not that hard. I'll show you. Gotta warn you though it may require me to get closer." Jane said as she came up behind Daria at a safe distance.

Daria gave the go ahead with a shrug as she allowed Jane to stand behind her and wrap her arms over Daria's own. Jane put the blowtorch in her petite hands and then helped Daria grip the switch in the correct position. Daria felt comfortable under Jane's intimate touch and found herself enjoying it. Jane was equally contented by the close physical contact as they worked together on the apron now that the hat was satisfactorily blackened to a crisp. Jane inhaled the sweet aroma of burnt plastic and Daria's mildly scented shampoo. Daria had a gentle musk about her that smelled of crumpled bedsheets, paper, and sweat. Jane felt herself growing with confusion as these particular feelings kept arising. She chocked it up to friendship as she heard Daria laugh in front of her, a rare sound indeed. She reveled in the fact that she was the one who had managed to produce such a reaction out her best friend as their camaraderie deepened.

Daria felt her cheeks warm with chuckles as she saw the flames eat away at the 'Nutty Nutty World' logo. The fabric raveled apart and after Jane felt that Daria had gotten the hang of using the torch she let the girl have at it. Jane stepped back and watched Daria's joy unleash over the metal barrel. Jane took a mental snapshot for her sketchbook as she pictured Daria in a welding mask with the torch again, both clothed and unclothed. She began to smack at her cheeks when she kept imagining Daria's nude body.

"Oh man." Jane unintentionally said aloud. She cupped a hand over her mouth and Daria released the switch on the blowtorch while lifting her mask up.

"What's the matter?" Daria called from the barrel, turning around.

"It's nothing." Jane mumbled, scampering off into the house.

Daria eyed her back as Jane vanished through the back door into the kitchen. Daria sighed and got back to torching her uniform with a lowering of the mask. Daria marveled at her craftsmanship as she saw the ashen remains of cheap polyester that had been her apron. The hat was an indistinguishable shape of melted plastic, fur, and stuffing that shared the same black scorches. Daria also took a pleasurable inhale of the burnt plastic as Jane had done.

"I thought your nose was too sensitive for this sorta thing?" Jane said as she held a glass of water in her hand.

"There's an exception to be made for the spoils of war." Daria praised to the trash barrel with the blowtorch raised in triumph. Jane joined her, raising a glass to the smokey remains. Daria offered the torch back as she raised the mask to wipe sweat from her brow beneath her glasses. Jane took the torch from her and Daria pocketed her glasses so she could wipe the rest of her face with the sleeve of her jacket. Night had fallen and the sky was fading into darkness. Jane sipped the remainder of her water as the two walked back inside. They sat at the kitchen table with masks piled next to the blowtorch.

"So why did you run off? I wanted you to join me in vanquishing of the enemy." Daria said, looking over at Jane.

"All the excitement made Janey thirsty." Jane chuckled as she held back another oncoming blush by pinching her thigh under the table.

"Since when do you refer to yourself in the third person?" Daria grumbled with a raised brow.

"Since when did you get so good at cracking remarks?" Jane replied.

"I was cursed at birth." Daria replied with a shrug of her hands.

The pair eyed each other with equal curiosity as they pondered the potential subtext of their exchanging of wits. Jane replied to Daria's careful retort with a tap of her empty glass against the table. She did not say anything as her lips tightened over the sight of Daria's meager smile.

"There it is again. What's got you all funny today?" Daria asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jane said, glancing at the welding masks.

"You're acting all awkward ever since you touched me-" Daria caught herself mid-sentence with an uncharacteristic gasp.

"Really it's nothing. Can we not talk about it please." Jane grumbled, refusing to look up.

"I guess..." Daria murmured.

"No, no, that's not, it's that, oh please don't be mad at me." Jane stammered as her thoughts twisted up as much as her stomach.

"Why would I be mad?"

"I don't know because I ... Oh I can't say it. Not yet."

"Ugh somehow I think we might be on two different trains of thought. Don't worry about it for now. I know that whatever it is you'll tell me eventually if it's important. Mind if I stay over after we go get some pizza?"

"Way to change topics," Jane sighed, loosening her shoulders against the chair as she thanked the stars for having such a perceptive friend, "sure I don't care if we grab a pie. Do you want me to call in an order?"

"As much as I love the smell of burnt plastic I wouldn't mind some fresh air before I stuff my face like a glutton."

"Yeah seems the unsavory smell of minimum wage wafted into the kitchen." Jane observed, sniffing at the air.

The pair returned the torch equipment upstairs and left the house after Jane hollered to Trent for a ride. He woke up and joined them for victory pizza.

The Jane of ten years later was sitting at the same kitchen table now, dressed in a worn green tee shirt and gray sweatpants with her damp hair hanging loose at her shoulders. She curled her sock covered toes against the kitchen floor while Daria sobered up from bathtub Tequila shots with a cup of coffee and warm waffles. Jane was eating some chicken wings with hot sauce as she finished recalling the story. She looked over at Daria who wore her usual shirt and boxer shorts, virtually unchanged from a decade ago right down to the blue tee shirt. Jane was surprised that Daria's feet were bare in the cold kitchen.

"Tell me another story Grandma." Daria said with a sardonic grin.

"Oh darling mustn't get too worked up before we have to go out." Jane chuckled.

"But the sleigh will drive itself over the river and through the woods to physical therapy. I bribed the dog to take our place with the horses." Daria whined with a mocking smile.

"I told you take ole Yeller out back and show him a good time with the rifle. Why else did I buy those rounds of bullets at the hardware store."

"He swore it was only a little rabies. He'd be over it by the time the sleigh was ready to pull away."

"Now before we mutilate anymore holiday classics with terrible old movie references let's get ready to leave." Daria urged, nudging at Jane's shoulder.

"Do you want your jeans? I was going to go upstairs to grab the keys and a sweatshirt." Jane offered as she got up.

"No you've been doing enough around here. Finish eating and let me take care of it. Besides I have to go get my shoes and a something more substantial to go over my shirt." Daria answered, pushing Jane back into her seat. Jane could not hide the surprise that graced her features. Daria went upstairs and she searched their room for one of her many jackets, settling for the leather one that matched Jane's own. Her's was chestnut while Jane's was black. She put her boots on over the side of the bed after slipping into the familiar leather. The keys rested on top of the dresser next to a broken candle with dried wax that had melted over the sides.

"Remind me to clean that up." Daria muttered to herself as she pocketed the keys to the station wagon. She then took her stick of deodorant and quickly ran it under her shirt before grabbing Jane's belongings.

She came down the stairs with Jane's jacket, boots, and beanie. Jane smiled as Daria set them all on the table after dropping the boots next to her seat.

"Do you need anything else?" Daria asked while washing her glasses at the kitchen sink.

Jane looked off in thought for a moment while she tied her bootlaces.

"Yeah, will you come here?" Jane asked. Daria nodded and stood next to Jane by the wall. Jane got up from tying her boot and rested herself against Daria's side. She caught her girlfriend off guard with the intimate touch as she reached for Daria's hand inside the pocket of the brown leather jacket Daria was wearing. Jane snaked her hand inside the pocket and grasped at Daria's warm fingers, clutching them between her own. Daria leaned into Jane as she rested her head into the crook of Daria's exposed elbow, nuzzling her cheek against the soft worn leather. Daria made a slight turn towards her and used her free hand to stroke the top of Jane's head. Jane moved her head to the inside of the jacket, now resting her cheek against the blue cotton spread across Daria's belly within the open flaps of the jacket.

Jane squeezed Daria's hand tighter as Daria wrapped her other arm over the back of Jane's head. Jane scooted forward in the seat of the chair so she would not stumble out of it as the couple embraced. Daria tilted her head down to smell Jane's dark hair, capturing the scent of gray morning. Daria thought Jane had a smell similar to the foggy haze that they would find at the Boston Harbor they once lived over. It was a careful aroma of gentle smoke intermingled with the salty ocean air that clung to the surface of the water. A subtle and yet ambiguous sort of smell that only existed in such a place. The hard tap water in Lawndale had a trace of this scent, especially after the pair bathed. But Daria, being the imaginative person she was, could simply draw this picture from memory without needing the presence of the unique smell.

All she needed was Jane.

Her raven haired beauty clung to her and Daria could feel the woman's smile press against her stomach through the shirt. Jane pressed her face harder against Daria as she inhaled another deep breath of Jane's hair. Below, Jane listened for the familiar gurgling of Daria's soft innards and the gentle bubbles that jumbled in her stomach. Daria relaxed under Jane's touch and her stomach's nervous gurgle subsided as Jane comforted her with another squeeze of the hand.

"Things'll go back to normal. I promise." Jane said with a muffled lilt from her girlfriend's belly.

"If they don't I still love you." Daria replied.

Jane emerged from Daria's embrace and looked up at her with a few tears escaping her eyes. Daria hugged her as if she would somehow fade and pushed her head back down into place. Jane went back to burying her face in Daria as they took the time to enjoy the touch of each other awhile longer.

"Hey Daria?" Jane called up.

"Yeah?" Daria said.

"You might want to get some pants on before we leave."

"You're right. No wonder my tush felt cold."

Daria kissed the top of Jane's head and moved to part the embrace when Jane pulled her in further.

"Huh?" Daria replied to the gesture.

"Hold on, I want to warm you up before you bother to get pants on." Jane told her while rising up out of her chair.

"Oh?" Daria whispered, glancing over at the clock on the wall.

"We have time for a little fun," Jane said with a wink, "now get up on the table."


	5. Chapter Four The Bronze Ass

**Damittttt Daria**

 **Chapter Four**

 **The Bronze Ass**

Jane followed Daria out to the garage and watched as Daria swept her bushy bangs out from in front of her glasses.

"Do you need a hat to hold your hair back?" Jane asked as Daria opened the door for her. Daria shook her head and got in on the driver's side of their Buick. Daria pushed the garage opener and the outside greeted them with a lull in the rainy weather as they pulled out into the driveway.

Jane could smell the wet concrete when she cracked her window open by cranking the handle downwards. Daria checked the mirror and the pair buckled up before driving away.

Jane took her cell phone out of her pocket to check the time after glancing over at the punched out radio clock covered in duct tape. There were wearing marks over the silver material from a recent encounter with a fist.

"We won't be early the appointment is at two and we should get there in ten minutes right?" Daria asked as she glanced at Jane from the corner of her eyes before looking back ahead at the road.

Jane flipped the phone shut and said, "Yeah it'll be just in time," she blushed.

Daria smirked when she recalled what they had done at the kitchen table before leaving the house.

"At least we put a blanket down on the top of that table. It's cold as hell." Daria recalled, wincing at the thought of the kitchen table against her bare thighs.

"I warmed you up just fine didn't I?" Jane asked with a flirtatious smile.

"Do I really have to answer that?"

"I want to hear you say it anyway." Jane demanded with a thump of the dashboard. Daria's fingers fidgeted against the top of the steering wheel as her face flushed with thoughts of Jane on top of her while they moaned over the table.

"It was so warm down there I nearly lost my shirt." Daria muttered, fighting the urge to kiss Jane while driving. The raven-haired jester giggled and leaned over to kiss Daria on the cheek while she drove.

"Well, between you and I we lost jackets, pants, boots, and all after getting ready to go out the door. I always enjoy unhooking your bra." Jane said, summarizing the steamy encounter that had just taken place while twirling a stray bang that hung from the front of her beanie.

"You're evil, reminding me of all that without a way to relieve myself." Daria grumbled as she slowed to a stop at the intersection of Dega Street.

"We can have a follow-up appointment after my real one. Trent wouldn't walk in on us until tonight." Jane jeered as she kept her eyes on Daria, awaiting the reaction to her suggestion.

Daria rolled her eyes with a dispassionate sigh and her fingers tightened as the light kept shining red. Jane fingered the maps in the side pocket of her door until she discovered a loose tube of red lipstick. She lowered the mirror from the flap above the dashboard and used it to dab some of her signature lipstick on. She did so awkwardly with her left hand while she rested the right arm at her side. She gave a frustrated gasp as the lipstick made a crooked sway under her fumbling fingers. She tried to clean up the smudge with a saliva covered thumb and prepared to put on more lipstick. Daria frowned as she watched her girlfriend's clumsy motions with the seldom used left arm.

"What do you need the lipstick for? It's physical therapy in your sweatpants. Why don't you put it on when we stop?" Daria asked.

"I want to look nice for you." Jane murmured as she touched up her lips with more red.

Daria snorted at her girlfriend's quip as they pulled into the parking lot of the ' _Lawndale Medical Arts Center'_. The old wooden sign gleamed with white paint against the gray sky as it stood on the manicured green lawn adjacent to the parking spaces. The building was a simple concrete box with many wide glass windows shaded by closed white curtains. It was a small two-story structure next to some various businesses of the same type. It was joined by a dry cleaning shop, dentist office, and a used bookstore.

Daria helped Jane out of the car after she was satisfied with her lipstick.

"Hold on," Daria said, stopping Jane before they went in the building. She reached up and used her thumb to fix a little smudge of lipstick on the corner of Jane's mouth.

Jane smiled as she pocketed the lipstick tube and grabbed for the comfort of Daria's arm. Daria smiled and hooked an elbow over Jane's own. She could feel Jane's skin prickle at the sight of the medical building and shared the same anxiety. As they got closer to approaching the door Jane leaned further and further into Daria like a scared child. Daria would rub her arm comfortingly as they walked down the hall to the door of the physical therapy office.

They stopped at a beige door with a placard that read, 'Doctor Darby O'Shea: Orthopedic Medicine' over the top of the door. Daria opened the door with Jane still clinging to her arm and lead them in. The pair entered a small lobby with half a dozen chairs in front of a windowed booth where a young secretary was painting her nails while a man took phone calls. Daria approached the secretary's window and wrinkled her nose at the fumes coming from the bottle of electric pink nail polish.

"Ahem, excuse me here for Lane, _**Jane**_ Lane." Daria coughed as Jane held onto her.

"Um, Okay." Squeaked the blonde girl as her long nails clacked against the keyboard sitting in front of her on the desk. Daria frowned to Jane when the secretary looked away.

"Wait? You um said _Jane_? As in like _Jane_ _ **Lane**_?" The girl said with a shrill voice as she adjusted the rims of her red glasses.

"Brittany? Is that you? I didn't recognize her with the glasses Daria." Jane told Daria as her eyes widened at the secretary.

"Whoa you're right it is Brittany Taylor." Daria gasped, forgetting that they weren't alone at the house.

"That's Brittany Thompson to you." Brittany chirped as she flaunted her gold wedding ring at them through the window.

"Oh man." Jane laughed, elbowing Daria. Daria lost her composure as she snorted into Jane's shoulder.

"Would you like cut it out. It's my first day here." Brittany whined as she kept looking up Jane's information on the computer. Jane and Daria took a moment to catch a look at the Brittany of of ten years later. She had the same slender figure, bleach blonde hair, and narrow face. She had an obvious spray-on tan that gave her skin an orange tinge, her hair was a brighter shade of yellow, and she had red prescription glasses to match her candy apple suit top. Jane snorted at the yellow neck tie that hung over the white blouse beneath the suit jacket.

"She wears the colors of a fast food logo." Jane whispered to Daria, stifling a cackle with a hand over her mouth.

"So your appointment was for um...two right?" Brittany asked the familiar duo.

"Yeah." Daria answered.

"Should be Dr. Darby." Jane added.

"Um yes, he will be out soon to call you. He's still with a patient. Please take a seat." Brittany instructed.

"So what's up with Kevin these days?" Jane asked before they left the window. Daria shrugged and made herself comfortable as Jane started the conversation after noticing no patients behind them.

"He's a coach at Lawndale High. He took over after Mrs. Morris got fired." Brittany said.

Jane noticed a slight grimace on the former cheerleader's face at the mention of Kevin's job.

"How did you end up a medical clerk?" Daria asked.

"I ended up graduating with a business degree when Kevin told me he couldn't get into college. He got work through the high school after he finally graduated." Brittany replied.

"No suitors at state college?" Jane asked.

Brittany's lips quirked into a smile as she clasped her hands together, staring with pride at the wedding ring. "Kevvy always had my heart without me even knowing it. He took a job as a janitor and worked at the gas station to save enough for this ring and the wedding. He changed his attitude after a guy at college proposed to me." Brittany explained with the dreamy fog casting over her eyes.

Jane stifled another laugh with her hand cupped over her mouth and whispered, "How romantic, huh Daria?" Daria rolled her eyes at Brittany Thompson and then her girlfriend.

"Um Jane you and Daria are quite familiar with each other? Are you? You know?" Brittany asked, gesturing at Jane holding onto Daria.

Daria's face turned red as Brittany kept pointing at the pair.

"If you like are I don't care or anything. It's like 2012 and I've watched the " _L Word_ " on HBO so I know stuff now." Brittany said with a twirl of her hair which hung loose at her shoulders. Daria had the urge to cut into Brittany but swallowed it when she saw how sincere the former cheerleader was being to the couple.

Jane elbowed Daria who groaned in response.

"Thanks Brittany." Daria managed to grumble out as the pair took seats in the lobby. Just as they were about to get comfortable in the chairs the doctor came out of his office.

"Lane? Jane Lane?" A red headed doctor wearing a polo shirt and slacks called to the lobby.

"See you lovebirds later." Brittany cooed as she waved at them from the window. Jane had to catch Daria as she nearly fell from embarrassment. Jane smiled back at Brittany as she tugged Daria forward. The doctor raised his eyebrows over at his new secretary and asked Jane, "do you know her?"

"We went to high school together." Jane replied as the doctor lead them into the office. They sat in a pair of chairs in front of the doctor's oak desk as he turned on the light of an ex-ray film viewer. Several images were clipped to the board and the patient name card titled 'Jane Lane' illuminated below the ex-ray sheets.

"Hello Jane how long has it been now since I last saw you?" Dr. Darby asked as he reached over the desk to shake her hand.

"A month I think?" Jane replied, shaking the hand offered.

"Have you been doing your exercises since your last visit?" He inquired as he offered a hand to Daria who nodded and shook it.

Jane nodded as well to emphasize Daria's point.

"Good, before we go over some new exercises I was hoping I could go over your new ex-rays with you and do an exam on your arm in the other room. Would that be alright?" The doctor asked as he noticed Jane beginning to tremble.

"Yeah as long as Daria's there." Jane answered. Daria reached over to the arm of the chair and squeezed her hand to reassure her. The doctor nodded and then he took a laser pointer from his pocket.

"Alright let's begin. These images came back last week and they are looking promising. Your clavicle fracture is completely healed as is the fracture in your radius and ulna. There are still some hairline cracks in your fingers but they might be knitted together by now. We will take some new ex-rays today and see." The doctor explained as he pointed to the respective sections of arm bones. He then pointed the laser to the ex-rays dated from ' **8/16/2012** ' on the opposite side of the board.

"These are the original images and we have come a long way since then. Your arm was broken in four places and your hand was shattered. It's a good thing you're still so young because all of the bones so far have healed clean. My only concern now is recovering the muscles in that arm so you can hopefully resume your normal activities. If we stay aggressive with the therapy you should be able to paint again. Your body has been so resilient throughout the surgeries and everything else so I don't see why you wouldn't make a full recovery. But we aren't quite on the other side yet." The doctor told the couple as he compared the images to one another.

Daria squeezed Jane's hand and gave her a hopeful smile. Jane's teeth chattered at the news as she took the comfort Daria offered.

"Have you tried to paint or draw since the accident?" Dr. Darby asked as he turned the light off from the board and hit the switch to turn the ceiling lights back on. He took a moment to sit in his chair across from the desk and awaited Jane's answer. Daria's eyes wandered from Jane to the potted ferns beside the window, behind the doctor's desk. Her throat felt full as the anxiety crept back in.

"One time." Jane answered.

The doctor smiled back and stood up from his chair. He gestured to a door that connected to an exam room labeled 'Room A'.

"Was it the one time before, or is it another attempt made since then?" The doctor inquired as he opened the door he now stood beside.

"Just the one time." Daria answered for Jane who began to retreat inward.

"Well any progress is good. We will work towards those goals alright, don't worry about it too much and just keep those muscles from getting tight. Now if you both will follow me we can take a look and see how things are under the hood." The doctor said, his joke at the end failed to lighten the mood as he had hoped.

Daria rose from her chair as she followed Jane's lead into the room. Jane reached for Daria's hand and was received with a light grasp from behind. They entered the small exam room which contained an exam table and two swiveling chairs. There was modest counter-top with many cabinets and a sink to the left of the table against the wall. Doctor Darby washed his hands while Jane took a seat on the crinkly paper atop the cushioned table.

"If you'll pull your injured arm out of that coat and I can take a look and see how you're doing." Dr. Darby said as he approached the table after tossing a wet paper towel into the garbage bin by the door. Jane nodded and slipped her left arm out of the jacket, leaving it halfway on. She tapped the backs of her boots against the drawers under the table top to alleviate her nerves as the doctor prodded her starting at the wrist. Daria was leaned against the wall and watched the doctor check the joints in Jane's exposed right hand. She awaited any indication from Jane for moral support as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket.

Jane winced at the touch of Dr. Darby when he felt her knuckles. He noticed her arm tensing up and asked, "does that hurt?"

"Yeah the joints." Jane answered.

"Hmm, how intense is it?" Dr. Darby asked as he checked the swelling in the joints.

Jane hissed at the pinching in her fingers as he checked them and said, " it's pretty bad."

"Alright," he replied as he pulled a pen from his pocket, "I want you to hold this pen for me. Just do it like you normally would okay, nothing fancy."

"I'll try not to." Jane chuckled as she reached for the cheap ballpoint pen. Daria watched with intrigue as Jane held the pen between her index finger and thumb. The scarred muscles from her fingers tightened against her grip and she winced again. Dr. Darby pulled out a notepad and offered it to Jane.

"Those muscles are tight around the sights where the titanium screws were set. I want you to practice writing large letters or symbols to start working those areas. I want you to do it daily in addition to our other exercises. We need to push through some of this pain if we hope to regain your range of motion." The doctor told Jane as her hand trembled at the sight of the blank paper. She swallowed hard as her right hand approached the page and despite her best effort her fear stopped the pen from drawing ink. Daria frowned and came to Jane's side. She wrapped an arm around Jane's shoulder and tried to coax her injured hand to the paper with the other arm.

"Try to remember when you showed me how to use the blowtorch okay?" Daria whispered as she closed her right hand around Jane's own. Daria felt Jane's pulse rush as her right hand trembled. Dr. Darby made a hopeful smile as he watched Daria guide Jane's hand to make a letter. Daria hugged at Jane's shoulders to soothe her as they made a clumsy series of strokes over the paper. Together, they drew a sloppy version of the eyeball from the Sick, Sad World logo. Jane's eyes lit up at the sight of the drawing. The eyeball was squiggly and more oblong shaped than she cared for, but it resembled the familiar eyeball none the less.

Jane's lip quivered as she finished the last line of the pupil in the center. The circle closed with Daria's help and then Jane stopped. Daria took the notepad from her tired hand and gave it to the doctor along with the pen. Dr. Darby grinned at the sight of the drawing as he gazed at it.

"This is good, very good Jane. I'm proud of you for trying today. Do you mind if I keep this in your file? I want to have something to show you when the tough stuff ahead comes." Dr. Darby asked as he pocketed his pen and tore the sheet off the pad. Jane nodded to him as she looked over at Daria who pulled her into a hug.

"I'll come back in a moment with your charts." Dr. Darby said, excusing himself from the room to give the couple some space. Jane heard the door click shut and relaxed against Daria as she returned the affection by hugging her back.

"That wasn't so bad huh?" Daria whispered as she parted the hug.

"That was a shameful looking eye though, I mean think how many times we've seen that logo." Jane snorted.

"It's scary to even think how much TV we watched back then." Daria said with a roll of her eyes.

"We were teenage girls. Don't be so hard on yourself Morgendorffer. Besides I think we've still managed to log plenty of hours for project ' _Sit on my ass'."_

Jane laughed as she looked up at Daria.

"I'll award you the **bronze ass** for your outstanding achievements in television marathoning." Daria replied.

Jane snorted at the deadpan statement and reached up to ruffle Daria's hair. Jane ran her fingers through the auburn mane as she shook off her previous anxiety with a bout of giggles. The Doctor paused himself upon hearing the laughter before intruding into the room. He waited until it subsided before knocking on the door.

"Come in." Jane called and Dr. Darby opened the door upon hearing her shout.

Daria sat next to Jane on the table and was combing her fingers through her mop of messy hair.

Dr. Darby came into the exam room carrying a manila folder with Jane's name on the tab. He set it down on the counter and opened it see the various charts inside. He laid out a diagram of Jane's arm with notes marking up the status of her injuries and set it alongside a chart. He glanced down at the notes on her clavicle fracture and the other fractures in her forearm.

"Alright Jane I want to check the rest of your arm. You can leave your shirt on, I want to see you reach up for the ceiling first." Dr. Darby instructed as he stepped back over to the table. Jane had no trouble reaching up as the doctor felt the muscles in near her collarbone. He gestured for her to reach in front of herself and then to the side. She groaned when she had to reach forward and the doctor told her to stop.

"Do you feel any pinching when you go forward?" Dr. Darby asked as he checked her shoulder again.

She nodded as she let her arm go limp in her lap.

"Alright I'm going to write you a small prescription for some painkillers when we are done here. I know you don't like to take those but I'd rather you take them when you need to so you can keep up your exercises. How's your sleeping by the way?" He asked as he made notes in her chart.

"It's alright I usually lay off my bad side. I tried driving this week and it wasn't too bad." Jane replied as she rubbed at her sore shoulder.

"You drove? The strain from that probably caused the pinching. Try to refrain from driving for another few months okay? It's not good for that shoulder." The doctor warned as he prodded the weakened shoulder, tapping the back of it with a pen to check her reflexes.

Daria looked down at the floor as she felt herself awash with guilt over last night. She cursed inward at her drinking when she saw the doctor's concern. Jane sighed as he kept poking her and he could feel her tense up.

"I'm almost done I promise." Dr. Darby assured her, bending and stretching her elbow in the air. She flinched a few times when he bent her fingers again and finally he stopped.

He pulled out the sheet with her exercises and held it up to the pair. Jane mimed the pictures of the exercise model as she straightened her back and lifted her arm up, reaching forward with both arms. She then traced the alphabet with her fingers like she was performing sign language. After several more lifts and stretches of the arms the doctor put a heat wrap over her shoulder and a second one around her arm. He concluded the session by taking notes down on the chart while he held it over the folder in his lap.

"I want you to do a drawing or write a sentence once everyday as part of your new routine. I want to see you back in another month for a follow-up visit. Bring some of the drawings in so we can compare them to this first one. It will give me a good idea of how long we have to go. If all goes well you could be back to normal in as little as a couple of months. Don't drive until I've given you the go ahead either." The doctor said as he gestured to her shoulder. He held up the eyeball she made with Daria and put a star by it. Dr. Darby took the heat wraps off Jane's arm and she sunk towards Daria as her body felt like jelly. Daria helper her arm back into her jacket and then they hopped off the table together.

"Do you have time to do some new ex-rays today or would you like to come back another day?" Dr. Darby asked as he closed her chart.

Jane yawned at the thought of the ex-ray machine and Daria shrugged at her. He handed a prescription note for the painkillers to her and she said, "next week?"

"Sure, let Brittany know and we will schedule you for a month out as well." He replied, showing them back out to the lobby. Brittany had filled room with nail polish fumes and was resting her wet nails in front of a small portable fan by the computer.

"Mrs. Thompson it stinks in here. Would you open a window?" The doctor scoffed as he felt his eyes water.

"Yessir." She squeaked, rushing out of her chair to the windows. She opened all the windows she could find and returned to her desk.

"Will you schedule Jane for two follow-ups, one for next week, and again for the end of this month. " He ordered. She nodded and began typing at the keyboard. He waved goodbye to Jane and Daria before returning to his office.

"Um do you want Tuesday again?" Brittany asked as she stared at the calendar on the screen.

"Sure." Jane replied as she rested against Daria.

"What about the next one?"

"Same thing. Daria you'll be free right?" Jane responded.

"After a long month of warming our couch, I don't know I might be booked up solid." Daria answered.

"Okay I have you down for Tuesday on December 4, 2012 and we are closed through Christmas so the next available would be... December 28. Does that work?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah that's all fine. Thanks Britt." Jane answered, nudging Daria's side.

"Alright good seeing you again. Take care girls...um... I mean ladies. Feel better Jane." Brittany said, bidding them goodbye with a warm wave-off. They waved back as they left the building. Jane and Daria exchanged smirks at the sight of Brittany and Jane said, "huh she's different, sorta?"

"Not in the slightest." Daria snorted.

"Yeah you may be right." Jane laughed.

"She's maybe more friendly?" Daria said as she opened Jane's door for her.

"Eh aren't we all once we've had a taste of this miserable world?"

"I guess that would make us the two most friendly people on earth then, because we had a thing or two to commiserate about pretty early on in our insignificant lives."

"You know what makes me extra friendly?"

"What's that?" Daria asked as she pulled the car out of the parking space.

"Chinese take-out." Jane said as she laid back in her seat.

" Alright, I'll pick us up some early dinner after I drop your order off at the pharmacy. Drugs-N-Stuff is still down the street or I could go to that new place that also takes our insurance."

"What's it called?"

" _Wiley's Pick-N-Pack_."

"A place with a name like that has a pharmacy?"

"Wiley doesn't discriminate."

Jane chuckled as she fell asleep in the seat. Daria drove to the newer shopping center with the Wiley's Pick-N-Pack and parked again. The shopping center was small but had a few familiar chains such as another _Cashman's_ and a second _Good Times Chinese_ restaurant.

Daria nudged Jane awake and asked, "do you want to come in?"

Jane shook her head as she pulled her jacket over herself like a blanket after she unbuckled her seat belt. Daria pulled an extra blanket from the back and tossed it over Jane before leaving.

"Call me paranoid but I'm taking these." Daria said to Jane's sleeping form as she pocketed the car keys. She shut the door and headed to the pharmacy.

She was greeted at the door by Upchuck who wore a blue uniform shirt with the name of the store in red lettering over his breast pocket.

"Greetings bespectacled vixen check out our five-dollar-after-five sale." Upchuck told Daria as she ignored him on her way in. He sighed at her back as she walked forward. Daria dropped off the slip and checked the snack aisle before leaving back to the car. She settled for a box of chocolate chip cookies and some dried snap peas for Jane. Just as she was about to leave the aisle she gasped at the sight of a bag of dried mangoes.

"Jane's favorite." Daria said, grabbing the last bag as if it were a bar of gold.

"I can't believe they have this in stock." Daria murmured to herself as she went to the register.

She returned to the car with her groceries and got back in. She checked to see that Jane was breathing when she found the woman slumped over the seat, spilling into the driver's side.

"Wow, you really were tired." Daria muttered to Jane as she pushed her back in place and buckled her back up. Jane grumbled in her sleep as Daria drove away towards a different Chinese restaurant. She drove five miles to a small parking lot where a lone building sat. From the outside it resembled a dilapidated shack and the wooden sign was so faded that the name, _**'Dragon's Fiery Belly**_ ', could barely be read. Daria checked the hours of the restaurant that hung on a laminated sign over the rusted metal doors of the orange brick wall.

The rain trickled off the corrugated tin roof and splashed onto the tip of her nose that had not been sheltered by her bushy bangs.

She left Jane snoring in the car and went inside the questionably stable structure. There were a few card tables with foldout chairs beside the front entrance and a large grill with four burners stood in the back behind the red formica counter-top

"Daria good to see you! Where Jane?" Asked a small old woman with a broken English accent.

"Hello Granny, Jane's in the car napping. I came for our usual order." Daria replied, placing a twenty dollar bill on the counter. Her keys jingled from within her pocket as she fished out some change to put in the tip jar before taking a seat.

"Yeah right away! Four buckets extra spicy orange chicken this time?" Granny asked as she tied up her gray curls and donned a green apron over her gaudy sun dress.

"Yeah." Daria said as she grabbed a cup of water Granny had offered to her. She sat back down as she watched the old lady fire up the grill and spray oil over the top. Granny took two spatulas and warmed them by pressing the flat ends against the warming grill. When the oil began sizzling with tiny bubbles she tossed a handful of marinaded chicken over the hot grill after waiting a few minutes. Daria listened to the familiar clanking of the metal spatulas against it as Granny tossed the chicken around in the oil and added chili sauce to it.

"How Jane? She feeling better?" Granny called as Daria perked her nose up at the smell of the sweet chili sauce with a touch of vinegar.

"Yeah we are just getting home from the doctor. He said she'll be able to paint in a few months." Daria called over the noise.

"Good! Good! You have new car yet?"

"No not yet. Still driving the Buick."

"My husband have car he give to you when you leave town. He drive it no more now that he retired."

"No Granny you keep it."

"No I give you and Jane as gift. You eat here so much you keep my business open dear. Rude to husband, you not accept. You let Granny know when you moving away from town, I give you. Buick not drive far dear, is too old."

"Granny you already gave me the Buick after we totaled our other car. Please I could not take another car."

"I not take such answer. You do me favor taking old car out of my driveway. Husband could not sell after youngest daughter leave for college. You will take this car too dear or I beat you with spoon until you say yes."

"Alright, alright, Granny." Daria replied with a snort.

"You my family Daria. I take care you and Jane dear. "

"Thanks Granny."

"Trent hungry too? He at work right?"

"Yeah he will get home soon."

"I send extra box home for him too. But you keep money."

" _Okay_ he will love you for it."

Granny cackled as she boxed the freshly cooked chicken with sticky rice and pickled vegetables.

"You want boiled egg too dear?" Granny asked Daria before closing the boxes.

Daria nodded as she got up to take the bags from the stoutly old woman. She stood at the counter while Granny added plastic silverware, napkins, and extra containers of fresh sauce to the plastic bags laden with boxes of food.

Granny grinned at Daria when she handed the two bags over and said, "you come back soon Daria. Love you dear. Tell Trent and Jane I love them too."

"Okay see you soon." Daria called as she left out the door. The metal doors squeaked on their rusted hinges as they swung closed behind her. She saw Jane still sleeping through the windshield and smiled inwardly as she set the bags on the hood of the car while she pulled out her keys. She made the journey back inside the car and kissed Jane on the forehead as she was greeted by a snore. She drove them home within fifteen minutes as she competed with the traffic of the afternoon commuters. When she arrived home to an empty driveway she took the car straight into the garage and parked.

"Jane we're home," Daria whispered, careful not to startle her girlfriend as she gently peeled the blanket back, "I got your favorite spicy chicken from Granny."

She was received with a tired grumble from below as Jane rubbed her nose with a closed fist.

"Chow down with me in front of the TV and then you can go back to bed?" Daria urged as she unbuckled Jane's seat belt for her after pulling away the blanket. Jane replied with a sleepy nod and they went inside.

Daria got to work setting them up in the living room while Jane kept the couch warm. Daria set up the boxes of food on the coffee table while her best friend picked a show once she had success finding the remote wedged between the cushions of the old couch. She turned it to reruns of Sick, Sad World and Daria handed her a box with a plastic fork already stabbed into her food. Jane took it and pulled the comforter she had nestled around herself aside to make room for Daria.

The couple each ate two boxes of food before falling asleep together. Jane lay beneath Daria ,under the comforter, with Jane's arms wrapped around her waist. The discarded boxes were on the floor inside the bags they came home in alongside two pairs of black boots. Trent came home a few hours later to the sound of the television playing in the background.

"Janey and Daria?" He called out through the kitchen as he pushed the door from the garage open. He repeated their names until he found a note in Daria's handwriting left on the kitchen counter beside a box of chocolate chip cookies. Trent read it silently as he fumbled with the cookie box,

" _Trent,_

 _Got food from Granny after taking Jane to the doctor. Can you pickup Jane's medicine from Wiley's tomorrow? Doctor said Jane is not allowed to drive until he has given her clearance, could be months from now. She drew her first picture at his office today. It was clumsy but she managed to make an eyeball. She is feeling a lot better today. Even though she wasn't supposed to drive yesterday it gave her a confidence boost. I'm sorry about what happened. There's take-out from Granny for you in the fridge. Granny sends her love by the way._

 _-Daria"_

Trent smiled at the note as he set it down. He went to the fridge and then proceeded to reheat his food in the microwave before joining the snoring women in the living room. He found the comforter slipping off of them and tucked it back over them, causing Daria to stir. He held his breath when he saw her eyes almost open until she rolled over and buried her face into the crook of Jane's arm. He smiled with relief and sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table, watching whatever was still on TV. He reached over to the coffee table where he had set his plate and settled it into his lap. He enjoyed the quiet feast to the sounds of another Sick, Sad World episode before changing the channel to a crime drama.

He was surprised to hear the phone ring an hour later and checked the clock on the microwave when he went to pick it up. The clock read a quarter past seven when he took the old corded phone off the cradle.

"Hello?" Trent rasped.

"Is Ms. Morgendorffer there?" Came a voice with a melodious lilt.

"Uh, how did you get this number?" Trent asked as he narrowed his eyebrows.

"This is her editor, Melanie, from _Snarkerbergs Publishing_. I wanted to inquire about Ms. Morgendorffer and the status of her significant other, Ms. Jane Lane. I would like to find out when Daria might be coming back to work?"

"Don't call here. Daria will call you when she's ready." Trent told the woman.

Trent heard a snarling breath from the woman on the other end of the line before she spoke again, "Would you leave her a message then? I would like to talk to her."

"She's still on a break. When she's ready she'll call you." Trent demanded before hanging up the phone.


	6. Chapter Five 90s Bargain Cassettes

**Dammitttttt Daria**

 **Chapter Five**

 **90s Bargain Cassettes**

Daria woke up to the feeling of Jane's chin nuzzling the top of her head. Jane was cuddling Daria in her sleep, arms encircling the shorter woman's petite waist. She grumbled a few times as she blinked her eyes open to find Jane's peaceful face below. Jane had her head turned to the inside of the couch and the hem of her beanie was slouched over her eyes. She turned her head further into the depths of the couch when she felt Daria move and made a soft groan. Jane made a quirky smile when she felt Daria press against her chest. Daria laid her head in the valley between Jane's small breasts with her cheek against the cotton of Jane's shirt. She had her head turned out towards the Television and looked out to survey their surroundings.

The blackout curtains over the living room windows were closed and the TV was off. Trent had discarded the trash from last night's take-out dinner and was sleeping on the floor in a pile of spare blankets that were normally kept beside the couch. Daria smiled at this and saw only the top of his head poking out from beneath the covers. She could not tell what time it was and did not have the desire to move away from Jane's warmth so she resigned to falling back asleep which took almost no time at all.

Jane was the first of the trio to wake up at the second interval. She felt Daria's weight on top of her and pulled the comforter closer to their bodies when she felt a chill shiver up her. She noticed that Daria had removed their jackets and boots and could not guess what time of day it was within the dark living room. She heard the familiar snore coming from Trent below her and settled her head back down on the pillow Daria had rested beneath her. She stuck her free hand down the cushions behind her to pull the remote free from where it had fallen last night. Jane checked to be sure that Daria and Trent were deep asleep before turning the TV on. She held Daria closer to her as she shifted her body around so she was facing the TV screen and was met with a low grumble from her girlfriend. Jane paused herself when she thought Daria might be waking up and waited for the stirring to pass before moving again.

She enjoyed the feeling of Daria nuzzling against her like a puppy as she turned the volume on the TV down to a barely audible level. The channel was turned to a sexy crime drama featuring a woman in a red pantsuit that resembled the older Brittany and a detective type figure seated across from her in a neon green tuxedo.

"Officer Brodey we must find the cocaine before they fly to Columbia." The detective demanded as he slammed his fist against his desk. The woman wearing red frowned at him as she checked her makeup and primped her hair in the reflection of the compact mirror she held.

"Like Detective I'll take care of it soon." Officer Brodey whined when she twirled a blonde lock of hair.

"You'll do it now Brodey or you're fired!" Her boss shouted with another slam against the desk. Jane chuckled at the melodramatic performance of the actor who played the detective in the loud suit. He took a foam baton from the top drawer of his desk and reached over to whack at Officer Brodey when she refused to put her mirror down. When the scene was over a bright logo blared on the screen with the title card, 'Brodey & Brodie', before cutting to a shampoo commercial.

A slender redhead stood naked in a steaming shower with the bubbles from the shampoo lather strategically covering her naughty bits. She ran her wet hands through her long hair and blew a kiss towards the camera.

"What says sexy after a sultry day's work?" A male narrator asked over the commercial feed, "why strawberry-sleek does! Get Von Wilder's Strawberry-BUH-berry Shampoo for your inner redhead."

The redhead reached out towards the camera with a handful of chocolate covered strawberries and a flurry of pink bubbles whooshed past her. This caused Jane to laugh aloud again as her chest rumbled. Daria could feel the vibrations in Jane's lungs as she woke to an all too familiar chuckle. She peered up at Jane's face with blurry eyes and blinked a few times.

"Oh hey. How's it hanging Amiga?" Jane asked when she felt Daria's eyes on her.

Her girlfriend responded with a sleepy, "Hrrrmmph."

"I see. I see." Jane mocked with a nod of the head.

Daria smirked at her and rested her head back down on Jane.

"We should get you some of that shampoo. That commercial was so awful it made me want to buy some. I wonder if it comes with the redhead and the strawberries? What did you think?" Jane murmured to a half-awake Daria.

"If I knew what the hell you were even talking about maybe I could answer." Daria grumbled.

"That Von Wilder commercial again?" Trent asked from below.

"Yeah the one with the strawberry tease." Jane told her brother.

"Ohho that one is alright. Did it play the usual five times?" Trent rasped, cuddling back into the pile of blankets.

"I dunno I just turned the TV ON." Jane scoffed.

Trent rolled over and reached up to poke her in the ribs, meanwhile Daria grumbled from above when she was shifted by Jane. Her brother delivered a jab when the blanket was sent into the couch by Daria who swaddled herself in it.

"You make a terrible set of armor Daria. Get back here." Jane groaned when Trent crawled to the bottom of the couch where he began his recon mission.

"Call HQ…" Daria suggested with a muffled groan when she pulled the comforter up over her face.

"YOU are my HQ." Jane cried when Trent towered over her like a dragon as he emerged from the falling nest of blankets.

"My salvation," he said, diving for the remote.

"HQ, HQ," Jane sounded to her sleeping compatriot.

Daria had cocooned herself into a human burrito form much to Jane's delight. It was too late once she felt herself being needled by Trent's ridiculously long fingers. She held the remote as though it were the end of a rope while Trent clawed for it. The couch rocked back and forth, keeping Daria from falling back asleep. Jane smirked to Trent who thought he had already won, knifing him in the side with the flat of her hand. He squealed as he shrank back, "Ugh," he said, rubbing his side. Daria wriggled around between either of them as Trent taunted Jane by mimicking her motions. With the wave of both arms Jane managed to distract Trent from his prey and she tickled at his ribs. Daria was pinned by the legs with Jane straddling over her thighs.

The television blared bright yellow with another commercial jingle making its presence known.

"WHAT's that you say? Too much melted cheese stuck to the walls of your microwave?" The narrator shouted to the the trio on the couch.

Jane dropped the remote at the pop of a buttery bowl of popcorn now on the screen.

"YOU need 'Cheese-EASE-off' the ultimate degreasing formula for all kitchen appliances!" The narrator howled.

Trent forgot about the remote and joined his sister in her bizarre trance towards the ad. Swirls of bright red invited them to watch followed by a close-up shot of a woman's hand failing to scrub hot sauce from another soiled microwave.

"Is this a rerun of the Twilight Zone?" Daria grumbled from the depths of the couch.

The Lane siblings were oblivious to any biting remarks.

Daria scoffed.

She fell deep asleep and despite protests from the surface she became unaware of the activity above. Her mind swirled into reels of red paint as she imagined Jane's lips. She pressed her cheek against the back of her hand as it flushed with heat.

"How Daria?" Jane's lips asked.

"Hmmm?" Daria murmured in her sleep.

"H-how?" The lips urged.

Daria's own lips twitched together.

She peered up and observed the levitating pair of lips flap themselves together like a bird's wings as they came down to her level.

"Is this the beginning of a movie about my dystopian future?" Daria grumbled.

She rolled onto her back as the blankets she had been buried in puddled around her, melting into clocks, "how Dali of you," she sneered.

The lips came forward, Transforming into rose petals.

"Puh-lease, Jane cannot stand the whole rose cliche. As her lips you can come up with something better than that."

The lips formed themselves into tubes of paints.

"Ugh, have some originality. Why are my dreams duller than my waking life?"

A tear trailed out of the lips.

"Fine, fine, maybe that was too harsh."

The lips melted into a silver puddle and dribbled down beneath Daria. The clocks went rigid when the liquid oozed over their faces.

"You're just going to melt away?"

"No," Jane said, "not unless the coming Summer is more miserable than the last."

"Huh?" Daria replied, looking up into a portal forming in the blankets.

She blinked several times as she saw light pooling above Jane's head. Jane lowered her face and kissed Daria through the covers, "you were talking in your sleep."

"Oh," Daria groaned.

"Its cute when you do that."

"You didn't really just use that word to describe me?"

"So **cuh-ute** ," Jane did her best impression of Quinn.

"Ugh, I'm going back to the melting clocks. At least Dali won't mock me."

"Who?" Jane twisted her face.

"Nevermind," Daria made a cat-like stretch, arching her back, as she spread out the length of her legs.

"Come on Daria. It's my day off."

Trent snorted, "that's my line."

He flipped the channel to another crime drama, "Babbies are bein' snatched right out from under me ears!" An Irish cop wailed from inside a cubicle.

"Its O'Leary 'n' Munch." Jane said.

"Janey where's Munch?" Trent pouted.

"Wait for it-"

A decrepit little beagle in a sweater vest came limping onto the screen.

O'Leary addressed his canine sidekick, "Munch go on an' sniff 'em mun."

The dog gave an enthusiastic yap.

"This's the best part." Trent said.

"Everytime," Daria grumbled.

The cop tossed Munch a hot dog and Trent prepared to say the line with the cop, sweeping his hair back just as was done on TV, "Ye was never the brightest dog on the force Munchy. There ye go eatin' yerrself again."

The beagle swallowed the hot dog whole, choking it down, with an, "arf, arf."

The show cut to commercial when Jane rolled her head to one side.

"DAN's Whacked-out 90s Bargain Bin Casettes! That's right, you heard me! Bargain bin cassettes are now available for purchase at Dan's Video Wholesale!"

"Its 2012," Daria sighed.

"We got tapes! We got VHS! A-track! We have it all! Buy our cassettes at rock-bottom prices and dust off some nostalgia at Dan's Video Wholesale!"

Jane curled over Daria and squeezed the soft of her belly once she crept a hand under the blanket. Daria squealed halfway between surprise and the betrayal crossing her face. Her gut tightened under Jane's fingers and she yelped when their tips grazed the flesh beneath the hem of her shirt. She felt the heat warm her face from ear-to-ear as Jane kissed her from forehead to chin. Daria was hot with embarrassment when she saw the back of Trent's head turning,

"I see you need no soundtrack to cue you up this time. Should I go get my guitar anyhow?"

Jane pulled the blanket over them in response to Trent's heckles.

"That doesn't usually go there...mphmm. Jane stop that-"

Jane ignored Daria's whispering as her fingers traveled south. They heard Trent make several footfalls with a well placed snort here and there. Jane heard the familiar crackle of their old stereo system and she rolled her eyes at the sound of Belinda Carlisle.

" _OOOOhh baby do you know what that's worth? Ohhh Heaven is a place on earth."_

Trent sang along as he left the room. Jane wriggled further into a protesting Daria.

"I'm coming back in two hours when Gumble Rumble is on," he shouted over the dings of the microwave.

"O-oooh uh baby do you uh know what that's worth?" Daria sang in the most monotone voice she could manage. Jane's ears pricked when she heard the pitch in Daria's voice cracking while the lyrics continued on both ends. She parted a kiss from her lady's navel and said, "its okay. Belinda can do the work you just lay back and let me help you relax."

"Isn't that your favorite song?" Daria murmured.

"I mustv'e told you that when I was drunk because now I can clearly hear a difference."

Daria gave her a knowing grunt and reclined into the couch. The echoes of time veiled her eyes when she lost the feeling of Jane's fingers groping her flesh. She smiled when Heather Nova's voice came up next, a lulling contrast to Belinda Carlisle. 'Walking Higher' rumbled through the floor to the couch as the ancient subwoofer shook the room.

 _I carry you with me, a ghost inside...I carry you with me…_

 _I carry you with me,_

 _A holy shrine_

 _And dogs and angels follow_

 _Right behind._

 _And could I be walking higher,_

 _Could I be right beside her ?_

 _The bones they buried,_

 _Will feed the trees_

 _But every word you ever spoke,_

 _Is still in me._

Daria's womb rippled with pleasure as Jane's slick hand caressed her insides. Her toes pushed up against Jane's calves while they shared a kiss. Daria imagined the arctic sea glazing over Jane's eyes when she blinked her own open. Jane frowned at Daria's quivering lip and deepened her affection to quell hot tears. She was discrete in her touch when she felt the wet salt on her cheeks that did not belong to her. Daria could not stifle the moan forming in the back of her throat. Jane nibbled at her earlobe, "that good huh?"

Daria grunted with a "mmph."

Jane's arms branched over her at the climax and their bodies rocked together.

From the kitchen Trent could only hear the stereo blaring with the occasional whine from its old bones. He scratched at his belly when he recalled the sale at Dan's Video Wholesale and looked at the clock on the microwave, "there's enough time to pick something up before the show comes on."

He shoved more dry cereal from the box into his mouth, "But do I really want to get in the car?"

Trent groaned and as he held his contemplation with a box of 'Sugar Jax'. The rings of dried dextrose ground between his teeth as he licked the bottom of each molar. When his appetite was satisfied he flung the empty box on the counter and checked his pocket for his keys. On the last cardboard thump he checked the clock and made a decisive step into the garage.

Jane panted when she heard the door slam and she poked her head out from their shelter. Daria allowed the heat to flush through her cheeks while Jane smirked.

"Round two already?" Daria whispered when she felt the hem of her shirt being lifted.

Jane replied with a kiss that could have bruised Daria's lips.

Time passed without so much as a glimpse and after peaking through the throes of female ecstasy the couple fell asleep with their limbs entwined and clothing somewhat disheveled.

Across town Trent slurped the straw of a 64 oz. 'Big Jax' from Wiley's-Quick-Picks and strolled the next door over to Dan's Video Wholesale. He wriggled his hips when he felt the slack of his jeans slipping down his waist and stuck a thumb inside the band to pull them up as he entered the store. He was greeted by a few sheets of dirty paper that flapped towards him when the automatic doors slid open. The heel of his boot rubbed grime onto one passing sheet and when he lifted his foot he caught the words, 'TEN CASSETTES FOR A $$$$$DOLLAR$$$$$$' in bright blue block letters. He smiled at that.

A man in a green uniform came charging towards him and Trent resisted the urge to dodge away.

"Dan?" Trent asked with wide eyes.

"How did you know? Was it my hair dye?" the man answered at a speed where his saliva could not keep up with his flapping gums.

Trent squinted at the neon lime spikes in Dan's hair and gestured to the large name tag while putting a hand up to deflect flying spit.

"I see." Dan said.

Trent grimaced at the younger man.

"You look like that one chick who comes in here now and then. I take it you spend too much time around her if you can nail that look." Called another clerk joining the front of the store.

Trent snorted at his former bandmate, Jesse Moreno.

"That one chick has a name you idiot. I think it's…" came Max Tyler.

"Daria." called Nick Campbell.

"When did you all start working here?" Trent laughed.

"After that smelly-ass tattoo parlor closed." Max replied.

"Where's your sister?" Jesse added.

A piece of plywood fell from the ceiling when Dan adjusted a hanging sign.

"Shit, not again. Dan use that money to patch the roof dude." Max yelled when another chunk of wood fell on his head.

"You should come work here."Jesse said when the scraps of ceiling were thrust into his arms.

"Can't." Trent said with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

The remainders of Mystik Spiral shared a frown.

"Why?" Nick whined.

"I already got two jobs and from the looks of it I don't think you can pay another guy." Trent replied. As if by divine force a roof shingle fell onto the floor and slapped the linoleum beside Trent's feet.

"Oh," his friends sighed in unison, "that."

Trent looked through the hole in the roof before shoving his way to the bin of tapes he spotted past Max's shoulder. He took a hand out of his pocket and retrieved his drink from its resting place in the crook of his elbow. As he slurped the dark syrup of his soda he rummaged through cases of battered cassettes ranging from Nirvana to George Harrison's Solo Flute Introspections. He flipped through the tapes, enjoying the sound of plastic slapping together. He grabbed an armful of tapes and dropped them to the other side of the bin once he had reached a dusty copy of an original Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms. He folded out the bottom of his t-shirt after setting his drink down and created a makeshift pouch to carry the pile of tapes he had rescued from the bin. With one hand holding up his pouch he grabbed his drink with the other and headed for the counter.

At the Lane residence the phone rang several times without so much as a groan from the women on the couch. They slept through several more rings until Daria heard the scratch from the voice messaging reels of the tape deck receiver which had upgraded the phone still hanging from the kitchen wall. She could picture the dried ketchup stains she had to wipe off the deck once she dug it out of the garage as she tried to ignore the voice talking into the tape.

"This is Jeff, general manager of public relations for Snarkerbergs Publishing. I am calling to reach a Ms. Daria Morgendorffer about-"

Trent came through the door, dropping a bag full of tapes on the floor and a box of take-out cartons. He heard a crash and jerked his head up to see Daria smashing the voice mail receiver with an old golf club. Her ears rang when she finished the last smack.

"Daria?"Jane groaned while scratching off a snore stuck in her throat.

Trent pushed his goods aside and walked over to the phone, taking the golf club from her before she could say anything. He threw it into the pile of junk inside the back of the garage and locked the door. Jane came to comfort Daria by resting her arms over the Daria's shoulders as she felt the rage trembling through the petite body. Trent did his best to remain ignorant of the scene in the kitchen as he fixed paper plates full of Granny's cooking. He placed the remaining cartons in the fridge and left for the couch without a word. Daria and Jane's food remained sitting on the counter while Jane guided Daria to the table nearby where the two took a seat. Daria grappled her head into her hands when the ringing pierced her ears further.

The title card for Gumble Rumble started as Trent shoved chicken into his mouth and he heard soft sobs coming from the kitchen. With his fork stuck in his mouth and orange sauce smeared across his face he muted the television. He stuck one of his new tapes in the stereo and 'Why Worry' by Dire Straits began to play once he fast forwarded it to the right track. Trent put their food in front of them and earned a chuckle from Jane when she saw his messy face. He managed a grateful, "mmumph," with the fork still in his mouth. Daria remained dormant as she hunched over the table while Jane stroked circles over her back. The light over the table buzzed as the bulb covered in cobwebs dimmed with age. Trent flickered the switch a few times to stop the noise and the light came back into full fluorescence.

"Candle-lit dinner for two Mademoiselle Mour-gen-dour-ffer?" Jane said in her best French accent.

"I would hardly call that a stand-in for a candle." Daria answered when the ringing stopped.

She was peering up at a moth bobbing over the bulb like a cork as Jane grinned. Trent returned to the couch while the couple ate in silence. He allowed the tape to keep playing while he contemplated his next move through forkfuls of fried eggplant. Daria surprised them both as she stuck her fork in the plate full of fried rice and retreated upstairs. Trent shrugged when he heard Jane's chair scratch the floor as she got up to follow after her. While in transit to the stairs she nudged her brother on the shoulder, pointing to the bag of tapes. He sighed as he pulled the Dire Straits tape out of the deck and tossed it onto the floor without so much as a glance, "why did _he_ have to ruin that song too."

Jane pressed an ear to the locked bedroom door and as she knocked she called, "Open up my beloved curmudgeon. " Jane could hear the swish of liquid on the other side of the door and her shoulders dropped. Daria allowed tears to leak from her eyes as she bottomed-out the last of her bottled 'Southern Comfort' stash under the bed. Jane crept away to the bathroom where she found a bobby pin hidden in the drawer below the sink. She swallowed her nerves as she picked the knob. Daria could hear the door clicking and she wiped the tear tracks from her face while kicking the bottle back under the bed. She heard it knock against other objects on its way under as Jane entered.

"What are you doing down there?" Jane inquired with a raise of her brows.

"Nothing," Daria grumbled.

Jane wrinkled her nose at the abrasive scent of cheap whiskey, "are you drinking up here?"

She followed the smell under the bed as she spotted dribbles of it on the floor.

She traced an ambered spot on the carpet that was next to a chunk of dried blue paint, "Why do you feel the need to lie to me Daria?"

"Mmph…"

"Daria."

"Uuurng," Daria ground her teeth.

Jane sighed, "forget it," leaving the room.

Daria flopped to the floor and she laid the back of head over the edge of the mattress they shared. She could hear the stairs creaking through the wall as pangs of guilt clenched her chest. She stared at the warped stucco in the ceiling from one of their botched repair jobs and closed her eyes when the ringing started up again. She could hear rain pattering the roof despite the sunshine outside. The smell of cigarette smoke clinging to fog flooded the canals of her memory banks. Her gut twisted when she felt a pair of furious hands slam her against a wall. She could hear books falling off the shelf that had been beside her that night. She could hear him screaming at her with yellowed teeth. The sharp tobacco stung her nostrils as she recalled the particular scent that only came from a 'Marlboro Seventy -Two'. He grabbed a fistful of hair and slammed her head against the wall. She could feel her legs being forced apart as he bruised her thighs with his grip. Daria bit her lip until it bled and choked away the memory. She coiled her chin over her knees when she gathered them to her chest. The biles of her shame rose up in her throat and dribbled from the corners of her mouth.

She could hear Jane's voice from the past, "why did you quit your job?"

She remembered the pleats in of the wool skirt that she fidgeted with when she answered, "there was a _new_ guy I didn't get along with so well."

Jane hugged her, "I'll enjoy seeing more of you while you look for another one. I'll have you on weekends again."

She trembled like a newborn fawn at Jane's touch.

"What's wrong Daria?"

"Nothing," Daria croaked, pulling away from the affection.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jane asked while kissing her forehead.

Daria flinched at Jane's lips, "I'll-uh be fine. I'm going to bed."

"Daria? Wait? Daria?"

She could hear herself closing the door.

"Dammit Daria." Jane said to the ceiling when she punched the table in the kitchen.

Trent leaned on the doorframe, withholding any remarks with mouthfuls of food from the plate he balanced in one hand.

"I don't get it Trent. She keeps drinking instead of talking to me. I don't know what I've done wrong. This can't be just over my arm. Dammit I don't get it."

He frowned at her with the guilty pleasure of orange chicken tingling his taste buds.

"You sound like her Dad." Trent said between bites of rice.

"Well it's still my turn to say dammit." Jane hissed.


	7. Chapter Six Glass Blades

**Dammittttttt Daria**

 **Chapter Six**

 **Glass Blades and Throbbing Scars**

Jane threw a dirty tarp aside to reveal a broken bike frame, "throw that away. I want it gone today."

"Janey why are we cleaning the garage?" Trent asked as he tossed a box of his mom's clay disasters to the open space beside their cars.

"I need to find something and this is the only place it could be."

"Alright, I'll call the guys over then. This job will take weeks if it's just me and your one arm."

"No."

"No?"

"I don't want anyone over with Daria like this."

"Janey."

"You heard me."

"Janey…?"

She scratched at the collar of her turtleneck sweater, "Get rid of that bike. I don't get why they didn't just haul it away."

"They did, Daria's the one who brought it back home from the junkyard."

Trent lifted the bike with a tenderness that scared Jane as she left the garage. She entered the kitchen and turned the lights on. Across the table lay scattered remains of overdue bills, property tax notices, and a gut-wrenching balance on their utility account. With a scowl she swiped all the paperwork off the edge of the table. The papers flapped on top of one another before settling themselves in for another nap. Jane pulled out her flip phone and dialed the number on the back of her debit card after finding it on the countertop.

"No way. I put it on automatic payments," Jane was met with a dead tone as she pressed each button. She glanced at the top of the screen, seeing a 'NO SERVICE' alongside a drained telephone-line symbol, and promptly tossed the phone on top of the other bits she would have rather ignored, stirring the sleeping bills.

She saw the corners of each paper wisp up and her mind drifted...

"Alright, get up on the handlebars. I'll take you for a ride. Go ahead and climb up." Daria said as she shoved her wallet in her pocket. Jane put her jacket on, crumpling the leather between her fingers. She did up the zipper and felt for the hard object wedged in the thick lining of her jacket-pocket. It was cool to the touch and she smiled when her thumb traced the grooves of it.

"Shall we Lane?" Daria said with a smirk, ushering her towards the bike.

"I'll seal it with one of these Morgendorffer," Jane replied followed by a kiss to Daria's lips. The chrome coating on the blue bike gleamed in the sunlit crack of the half-opened garage door. Daria nibbled at Jane's neck and teased her with a tongue tip.

"I'll never get on the bike if you do that," Jane laughed, "but we could arrange for a ride upstairs."

"Don't you mean down?" Daria said, tugging at the zipper of Jane's jeans.

A warm hand pressed over hers and Jane nudged her towards the bike, "let's take a ride since you bothered to get it out."

"It can wait if you'd like? I won't object to other plans."

Jane reached back into her pocket and clutched at the object once more, "No I don't want to wait."

Daria snaked her arms around Jane's waist and guided her towards the front of the bike, "come on then love."

Jane gazed down at the space between the handlebars, "Have you ever done this before?" Daria whispered. Jane shook her head as Daria clasped her hands around Jane's hips. With her small fingers resting over Jane's waist she tapped a foot against the inside of Jane's opposite leg, "When you go to boost yourself up flip your legs apart as you go over. It's easy. Rest your feet on the bars sticking out of the wheel."

Daria smoothed her hands over the sweater clad love-handles of Jane's back and nuzzled the crook between her neck and shoulder from behind. Jane giggled as she bent her head down to expose more squishy flesh to Daria's lips. They could feel the rasps of each other's tender breathing as they parted their touch. Daria kept a hold of Jane's hand as she hopped onto the seat. Jane could hear the denim of Daria's jeans sliding across the faux leather seat and smiled at the squeak of boots. When Jane heard Daria kick in the standing brake and plant her feet to the concrete she took the cue to climb on.

She fumbled up the front with an awkward twitch in her face that endeared Daria, "I love it when the corner of your lip wiggles like that. It's a dead giveaway that you're nervous."

"How outspoken of you Amiga." Jane's face flushed with embarrassment when she heard the seat of her cargo pants catching on the bars. Daria cupped one of her butt cheeks and pushed her toward the other way. Jane made tiny yelp that caused Daria to give a hard squeeze before her hand retreated.

"It can have mind of its own sometimes." Daria said.

Jane winked back.

"Now don't be frightened." Daria said as she wobbled the bike a bit while rolling it back to reach the button to their garage door. Jane grabbed for the handles, closing her hands over Daria's own for a bit. The narrow passage through the open door to the street was hit with sunshine on their way down the driveway. The bike bumped over the curb before Daria turned it into the empty street. Daria steadied the bike while Jane tried to compose herself with a cool regard. Daria laughed inward at the poor attempt Jane made to tighten her shoulders. The humid breeze flushed their faces as they eased into the ride. Daria wiggled her fingers beneath Jane's in the hopes that it would reassure her, "I'm right here Lane."

"I know Amiga." Jane whispered.

"Just five blocks to the harbor." Daria said when the tires skittered over a speed bump.

"Not much traffic today. That's strange. There's a Sox game this week." Jane added, darting her head side-to-side.

"They're probably all piled in at the annual seafood festival near downtown."

"Daria?"

Daria perked her head up.

"Can we go to a baseball game? I've never been and I've always wanted to since we came out here for college."

"Why did you wait nine years to tell me?"

"I expected you to complain your way out of it."

"Mmmurrnph...Well I guess that's fair."

"You've never really been one for crowds."

"Mrrrm."

Jane snorted, shaking the handlebars with her mirth. The last thing she could remember after that was the screech of tires and the feeling of being thrown against an unfamiliar windshield. She could feel every blade of glass lodged in her arm and the scars throbbed. She clutched at her shoulder, willing the clavicle bone to stop grinding with the tightening of her muscles. The door to the garage swung open and Trent walked in on her swaying body sweating beside the kitchen table.

"Janey you should sit down." Trent urged when he pulled her towards a chair.

"Get my pills," Jane said between grit teeth.

"Is it a spasm?" Trent glanced at the whitening knuckles around her shoulder.

She frowned at him, "The bottle is next to my bed."

He ran upstairs to rummage through the bedroom, five minutes later he shouted, "can't find 'em."

"Check the bathroom," Jane hollered back.

She could hear his footsteps shuffle to an abrupt stop followed by a rattling of the door knob, "its locked Janey."

"Not again dammit!" Jane groaned on her way out of the chair, kicking it aside before proceeding to the stairs. When she arrived Trent was already working a screwdriver into the lock. Jane stopped him and offered a bobby pin out of her bun. The lock popped after a minute or so and he tripped over an empty tequila bottle on their way in. Jane caught herself on the ledge of the bathroom counter but Trent was not so fortunate. Jane heard a great splash and turned to see him falling in the full tub with Daria beneath. He blushed profusely as he got back up onto his feet but he ignored his embarrassment when he noticed that Daria had not moved at all. Jane saw that her clothes were still on and charged to the tub at once, "Help me get her out!"

Trent grabbed Daria's legs while Jane got to work cradling the other end of her girlfriend and they lifted her out with urgency. Jane's face lost color when she saw how much Daria had already lost herself. Her jaw was slack and her eyes were tinged with blue veins. Without a word Jane tipped Daria's chin back, pried open cold lips, and plugged the nose with her other hand. She dove for Daria's mouth and began breathing into it while Trent pulled out his cell phone and dialed '9-1-1' Jane could not hear a single gurgle as she kept blowing in and doing bursts of chest could not feel the sweat beading his brow as the operator asked for his address. He did not like the stiffness stuck on Daria's features as the scent of a tequila sunrise wafted towards him.

"Daria. Daria. DARIA." Jane called when she resorted to smacking wet cheeks pasted with dripping auburn hair. Jane began the CPR technique again when she was given no response. Trent dropped his phone and said, "I'll pump her chest while you keep blowing into her."

The Lane siblings kept at it even after they heard sirens pulling up to the house. Just as the paramedics pounded on the door Jane was gurgled on with a face full of bile-laced-bath-water. She coughed away the stench as Trent and her tipped Daria onto her side so she could toss up more water from her lungs. The clear fluid splashed onto the yellowed linoleum and puddled at their knees. Trent heard the paramedics pounding on the front door and returned downstairs.

Some hours later a cell phone rang many countries south and few time zones away. The tropical cabana sheltering it rustled in an ocean breeze.

"Will you answer that Vince? I can't step away from the kiln." Called a woman's voice.

"You answer it Amanda-honey. These photos won't hang themselves." A man yelled back from across the beach below the cabana.

Amanda Lane sighed when the phone rang several more times. She was squatting in front of a pottery wheel and when the calls refused to cease she wiped her clay covered hands on her canvas apron. She walked up the stairs from the beach to the porch and picked up the phone, nearly breaking the button when she pressed to receive the call. She pulled up the long antenna when she heard a crackle. " Mom? Are you there?" Amanda heard over the line.

"Janey, deary? Calm down, why are you yelling at me sweety? It's near sunset in Guiones."

"Why weren't you answering! I don't care what time it is in Costa Rica." Jane kept shouting.

"Jane slow down and tell me what's wrong." Amanda said while tugging at her graying blonde bangs. When Jane relayed to her about what had happened she ran to her husband and shoved the phone in his hands. He dropped a wet photograph and asked, "Where's Trent?"

"Urrrrgh he's with me in the hallway. We haven't heard from the nurse yet."

"What about the doctor?" Vincent said.

"She's chasing him down." Jane replied.

"Do you want us to catch a flight back to the states?" Vincent asked.

"If you want I guess… I don't know."

"Have you called her family?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You know exactly why."

"Oh. So it really hasn't changed then since the last time we saw them?"

"No 'fraid not."

"You should call them anyway Janey. Its an emergency."

"I want to wait and see if it's really bad enough to get them involved."

"Jane."

"I've got it Dad. Come home if you want."

"Call us back when you hear from the doctor okay?"

"Sure."

"Alright then tell Daria we send our healing light." Amanda said over the waves lapping the shore in the background.

"Sure." The Lane siblings said in unison before hanging up.

Jane slid down the wall as she flipped her phone closed. Trent kept twiddling his thumbs, with his necklace pendant in between them, from where he sat cross-legged on the tile. They watched people pace either side of the hall until they would return to their respective stations and the nearby lobby seating. There were no patients on this wing aside from the ones in triage at the curtained-off cubicles. She could hear incoming patients fussing with the hospital staff, a comforting tonic for her mind. The Lanes continued to wait in silence.

"You can't sit here darlings. Please, move to the lobby." A passing nurse ordered when she stuck her face out from behind a manila folder.

Jane ignored her.

"Did you hear me? Uh Miss?"

Jane stared at the crinkles forming in the denim gathering at her knees. She counted each dimple and traced it with her injured pinky finger. The joint at the end of it seemed to have a permanent crook now that it had almost fully healed.

"Please, move to the lobby. I will call security."

"Leave her alone." Trent warned, getting up to grab the nurse by the arm.

"Is there a problem here?" Another nurse asked when she spotted Trent's grip on the fellow nurse's wrist.

Trent glared at them both and Jane finally looked up at her growing audience. The nurse pulled Trent and her colleague apart before asking him, "Now then, what seems to be the problem here sir?"

"We are waiting for someone and your," Trent stiffened his lower lip, "ugh buddy wants us to leave."

"Can you tell me which doctor you've been assigned to?" The nurse replied.

"We don't know. We've been sitting here for…" Trent's eyes darted to the left.

"About three hours." Jane said.

"It can't be that long?" said the nurse who still held a stare with Trent.

"Midgey, Flora, you're on duty for floor 3." A senior-looking nurse commanded from the hall until she noticed what was going on.

"Is there a problem-"

"Do you really need to ask that question again?" Jane answered.

"Why aren't you in the lobby? Did someone in the emergency room help you yet?"

"I need to know what the hell is going on with Daria Morgendorffer. I've been waiting for anyone who has a clue and I don't have time to usher in the town circus." Jane yelled so loud it shook a pill cart nearby.

The nurse addressing the other two lifted her clipboard, "Let me check my roster dear. Can you repeat that name?"

"D-a-r-i-a M-o-r-g-e-n-d-o-r-f-f-e-r."

"This way," she waved Jane and Trent out to the hall without any protest.

She lead them to the main elevator where they were nearly held up by a janitor before squeezing inside. Jane wrinkled her nose at the chemical fumes rising from the supply cart. Trent had begun fidgeting with his necklace when the elevator stopped at every floor until the sixth light chimed. They followed the nurse after pushing past the janitor and walked through a narrow hallway to the closed door of an office where the windows were shaded by blinds from inside the glass. The nurse pounded on the door and Jane could see the frustration in the nurse's face that she had been feeling.

"Dr. Capotti? I know you're hiding in there, get out here Dr. Capotti!"

When Trent heard the sounds of a TV through the nurse's knocking he pushed her aside and barged into the office where they found Dr. Capotti stuffing his face with a tuna salad sandwich to some daytime soap operas.

"What the hell." Jane shouted. She was stopped by the broad hand of the nurse and Dr. Capotti shut off the TV with enough time to wipe his face with a dirty napkin. Jane scowled at the scrawny doctor and narrowed her eyes at the pale bald spot above his grizzly ponytail.

"It's my lunch hour Barb. What's the meaning of this?" Dr. Capotti said.

"Why haven't you sent anyone down to get us. Why has nobody come downstairs." Jane yelled as Trent cleared the nurse out of the way for her.

"Who are you?" the doctor asked her.

"Where the hell is Daria and what's happened to her? Are you going to actually tell me something I can understand or are you going to find out which technicolor whore cheated on Antonio for the next hour?"

The doctor snorted and in the same manner as Barb he picked up a folder from the open drawer of a messy filing cabinet. He dumped the leaflets of charts out and with a stroke of his finger down a column of numbers he said, "Well her bloodwork came back recently and I must say her blood alcohol level is a bit too high for my liking. But from what I gather she must've had too much to drink and fallen asleep in the bath. She's stable now, looks a bit underfed and sad. I want to keep her overnight to make sure she's fine and I'd like to refer you to some good counseling services for her."

Jane grabbed the end of the desk and got nose-to-nose with the doctor, "It took you this long to tell me my girlfriend took a drunk nap in our tub. If this it all it takes I could warm your chair without spending 100k."

Trent crossed his arms from where he leaned against the door, "What room is she in? We want to see her."

"Barb take them to B614." Dr. Capotti said after meeting eyes with Trent.

"Come on Janey." Trent urged as he grasped her quaking shoulders from behind. Jane braced against him, trying to cool her rage. He took his sister out into the hall where they now saw rows of rooms. They were lead by Nurse Barb down four corridors and after several left turns they came to an arrow with the placard 'B600-B615'. Jane ran out of Trent's grasp to the only open door in that hall. She shoved her way into the room and climbed onto Daria's bed where she curled around her. Trent and the nurse found Jane sticking her nose in Daria's dry hair with her eyes closed. Trent came to the other side of the bed and held one of Daria's limp hands that lay hanging over the rail. They saw her breath fogging the clear silicon of the breathing tube plugging her nostrils. There were a few wires coming from out of the top of the blue gown that lead to the monitor reading her vital signs. Nurse Barb copied the read outs onto the open chart in her hand before leaving the room.

Jane could smell Daria's natural tang above the starched polyester and concentrated disinfectant. In Jane's nose it was an acrid citrus mingling with black licorice. It was a fingerprint no one else could ever share and it assured Jane that her Daria was in fact still there, still breathing, still smelling of sweat and bile. She allowed hot salt to trickle down her cheeks as she snuggled in closer, hiding the rest of her face between Daria's hair and the scratchy pillow.

Trent rested Daria's hand behind the guard rail of her bed and pulled up a chair. He retrieved the hand once he was seated and surveyed the body lying in the bed, "Jane's not the only one who would lose a best friend." He laced his fingers between hers and clenched her hand, trembling as he squeezed it. The three of them stayed like that through the night with the next shift of nurses ignoring the visiting hours policy and draping blankets over them.

The dull grey light of a foggy morning filtered through the cracks in the blinds. Trent squinted at it from where it caught on the bridge of his nose. He went to turn his head the other way until he felt a crick in his neck from sleeping hunched over the bed with his folded arms pillowing his head. He rubbed at the sore spot as he pushed himself up into the back of the chair.A wool blanket slipped around him when he rose. He saw his sister just as she was last night and could see the steady rise and fall of both her and Daria's chests. He ran his hands through his hair with a great yawn.

Shortly after Trent awakened a nurse wheeled a cart inside with a covered tray and kettle of hot water. She smiled at him as she lifted the lid off to reveal a basket of assorted tea bags, slices of hot toast, packets of butter and jam, plastic silverware, napkins, and styrofoam cups, "Tell Jane and Daria breakfast is compliments of Nurse Andrea. We heard what she came in for last night and we hope she wakes up soon."

Trent nodded at her when she was done whispering and she winked at him with a dark eye. He was intrigued by her shaggy black hair and felt his cheeks blush before turning away. He hid his face in the groove of his elbow and Andrea grinned on her way out of the room. He helped himself to some toast and once he finished buttering both sides he heard his sister stir. Jane smacked her lips between yawns and Trent snorted at her bangs sticking in all directions along with her bun spilling over in a tornado of twisted bobby pins. She blinked several times when she saw him biting bread. She was teased by the wafting allure of strawberry jam and black chai tea.

"Here," he offered her a cup of already brewed tea and handed it to her once she got the feeling of blood flow back in one of her arms. Her burning throat was soothed by the steamy liquid. She rolled on to her side as she sipped it with one protective hand resting on Daria. She pushed her palm in the curve of Daria's ribcage where she stroked circles into the blanket. He could see her breath rise in vapors over the surface of the cup, slowing the expression of time in their space. Amidst the dark corners of the room there lived a peace among the shadows. Flecks of dust scattered in the light as it kept creeping through the window. Trent reached down to pull his phone from his pocket until he looked over at Daria again, ignoring the urge with a pat of his jacket.

"I want some." Jane told him when she drained the last of tea, gesturing to the tub of warm bread. He got to work preparing her a slice and she handed him her empty cup so he could brew more tea for her. When he handed it to her she said, "Trent let's sell the house."

He blinked a few times and drank more tea before it hit him, "Janey we should sleep on that."

"Daria has no insurance and neither do I. Our assets disqualify us for county medical. We have a mausoleum of Lane junk going back to the 1960s and Mom and Dad don't care. They gave you the deed when they relocated to South America. If we don't pay down all these bills the debt collectors will take it anyways."

"Stop Janey."

"It makes the most sense. We can start over somewhere else."

"Janey that house isn't worth anything between all the repairs it would need. Do you expect us to move to the tent city behind Dan's until we have enough funds to go somewhere else?"

"We can stay with Jesse or Max."

"Janey?" Trent groaned.

"You'll still have your two jobs."

Trent's phone rang.

"Hello?"

Jane could hear the manager of the Zon on the other end, "Where were you last night man? I had a full club."

"I had to take Daria to the ER."

"Oh...Sorry man. Is she okay?"

Trent glanced over at the bed and sighed, "I don't know. We're still here."

"Jane there too?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, call me back tonight and let me know if you still need someone to cover you. I got you man. Let me know how she is."

Trent hung up after a gruff, "Sure thanks."

Jane set her breakfast down on the bed and reached up to fix her hair when she could no longer stand the bobby pins stabbing her scalp. She trusted that Daria would remain still while her tea sat beside a napkin with a half-eaten slice of toast laying on top of it. She pulled her hair all the way out of its trappings and let it tumble over her shoulders while combing her fingers through it. A pile of pins and black elastic bands sat on her lap as she worked through the tangles. Trent answered his phone again, "Hey? Denise's that you?"

Jane could hear his other boss asking if he was available for an extra morning shift and he had already asked for the next two days off despite the worried look contradicting his voice. When Jane was done twisting her hair up into a bun and tucking in all the pins Andrea returned to check on their patient.

"Thanks for the food." Jane whispered when Andrea flashed a pen-light under Daria's eyelids after forcing them open. She was relieved to see the eyes flickering in response to sudden light.

"No brain injury, that's good. It's no problem Jane." Andrea replied as she took notes on Daria's chart. Jane sat, petting Daria's hair while drinking tea. Daria twitched at the cold metal disc of the stethoscope when it was whisked down the collar of her gown but did not awaken. Trent narrowed his eyes at them and then down at his feet as he chewed on his lower lip. The thermometer beeped when the scan in Daria's ear was finished and Andrea put an extra blanket on top of her in response to the result.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Jane asked when her former classmate straightened Daria's legs out to check the reflexes.

"Do not pull my pinky toe. I don't feel up to laughing that hard." Daria grumbled when Andrea checked the nerves in her feet, pressing the back of each toe.

"Ticklish huh?" Andrea chuckled when Daria flinched at the next touch.

"You could say." Daria replied when Jane kissed her forehead. Trent looked up and stared at her open eyes, questioning the reality of it all until he reached out for her hand. Andrea offered Daria some tea while Jane tore a piece of her toast and put it near Daria's mouth. The scent of strawberry preserves was intoxicating for such a starved belly and Daria could have bitten off the fingers of the hand feeding her. Jane fed her until she pushed away a third slice of bread. It was washed down with orange pekoe leaves and a tablespoon of honey.

"I'll bring the doctor in an hour. If he approves it you can be discharged after that." Andrea said as she exited the room. Jane and Trent shared a glance before looking at Daria who sank her head into the pillow. "I don't remember much but I think I'm okay." Daria said when she waved her hand in front of her nose, flexing the stiff fingers. Jane frowned and took hold of that same hand. Daria peered over at the scattered light slicing through the shadows made by the blinds over the window, "How long have I been asleep?"

Trent checked his phone, "It's only 10am."

"About a day then. We found you in the bath when we were cleaning the garage in the morning." Jane said.

"Why were you doing that? Trent you didn't let her use her arm right?" Daria said.

"Janey wants to sell the house." Trent replied.


	8. Chapter Seven Like Hell I'm Going

**Damitttttttt Daria**

 **Chapter Seven**

 **Like Hell I'm Going**

"Thats the last one for this haul Max." Nick shouted from the driver's seat of _the_ Tank. The black van guzzled like a drunken tiger when Nick playfully floored the gas pedal, "Come on Trent get in!"

Trent opened the door to the passenger's side, "Careful man. You could be the one to finally bust the engine and something tells me this junk won't pay for a tow."

Daria slammed the back doors closed once she shoved a crumpled box in place. Crinkled packing tape caught on the door hinge when it she gave it the final close. She peered overhead to see Jesse on the roof with Trent's boss Denise.

"Give it here sonny," Denise said when she reached for a fresh roofing tile.

As the Tank drove away Daria went back inside the garage, "Mmrmm Jane?"

"Huh?"

Daria walked over to the arsenal of clay mugs Jane was boxing up from the shelf. A cloud of dust shot into Daria's face when Jane moved a lumpy mug that had 'Dega Street Arts Festival 1989' scratched into the side. Jane could see the grooves of her mom's fingernails where the letters had been haphazardly placed. Daria coughed while she cleaned her glasses with the hem of her sweatshirt, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

Jane held the mug, examining the wrinkles in its surface as she turned it over with her good hand. The injured arm lay in a dark sling with velcro straps hugging it to her chest. Daria dropped the loose black fabric and pushed the frames back onto her face before approaching Jane. Lips tightened on both their faces when the noisy velcro of Jane's sling grabbed their attention. Daria raised her arms to the anxious tigress who trembled into the shelf. Daria took the mug from her and cast it aside to the box below. The clay smacked the thick bed of cardboard on its way down but did not shatter. Jane gnashed her teeth when Daria embraced her, "This is not written in stone. No one expects you to keep on a promise even though you made it. It's not the kind of thing to do just to prove everyone right." Jane sucked in a breath as Daria pawed at her back. Jane curled her cheek over one of Daria's shoulders. They ignored the sound of Denise's hammering as Daria awaited a response.

The rafters creaked as Jane said, "my arm broke again. But as for the rest of me-"

She pulled out of Daria's grasp and turned her back.

"Jane that isn't what I meant," Daria called, "I'm-"

"Save your sorries Morgendorffer. Be my guest, you can go on sitting in this rotting old house and feeling sorry for yourself. I have other **adventures** in mind."

Daria was received by a slamming door when she went to follow Jane inside.

She kicked at a splintered guitar when it caught on her foot. She could remember her first time in the garage with Jane when she saw 'T.C.D.' scratched into the face of the long-forgotten instrument. She heard raging thunder echo back to ten years prior as the pages of an imaginary day-running calendar tore off. She could hear Jane's mock scream when she squirmed at the water running off the inside of the leaky garage door and down the back of her shirt.

"Hahahaha just a little water Daria," Jane said when she ran her hands through her hair as it stuck to her face. Daria grumbled as she took her coat off and wrung it out on the concrete. The water splashed onto Jane's boots and it was hardly a care when considering the ongoing flood at their feet.

"Just like Trent to get too high to go get sandbags at the county station." Jane remarked when the water rose to their ankles,"It's a wonder we're getting dumped with so much rain."

"We are on the east coast. It's bound to happen at some point." Daria said.

"A hundred miles inland is hardly what I would consider on the coast."

Daria raised a brow.

"So how did the call with your parents go?" Jane said.

"Mmm…"

"Are you moving your stuff into Casa Lane then?"

Daria gave a shrug.

"What did your Mom say?"

"It's not important Jane."

"What? Don't spare me Daria, we are in this together. Whether you like it or not you're stuck with me."

"Really it's not-"

Jane nudged her.

"Jane you don't understand. Please don't make me repeat it."

Jane smirked, "Did she call me deadbeat?"

"She says she doesn't care if I'm _gay._ _ **But-**_ "

"But?"

"She would rather see me matched with someone who showed more potential in life. She referred to you and Trent as having limited prospects and being unbearably _under_ -achieving."

Jane's face twisted, "Since when did Trent have anything to do with it?"

"She considers you both a package deal I guess. Maybe because Trent can barely feed himself in her eyes."

"Oh," Jane's eyes were downcast.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you." Daria snapped.

"Surely there was more? You were in a one-sided phone call for almost half an hour."

"Urrrrgh fine. She said we do not have their blessing and she went on to lecture me about distractions from my college studies."

"Did she get hit on the head or something? She didn't mind when we were just best friends."

"Not really, this is somehow consistent of _Helen_ the workaholic-corporate-lawyer. Why would she endorse a relationship like this?"

Jane sighed, "You make a point."

They held hands.

"She wants me to come home and forget about my 'summer-flinging' as she put it. She blamed my youthful hormones."

"Okay now you can spare me Daria," Jane chuckled.

Jane delighted in Daria's budding smile, "I would spare myself first."

"Your mom was never exactly the nurturing type. I am sure she will come around once she starts missing you."

"Can I st-" Jane put a finger to Daria's lips.

"You never have to ask that again." Jane said as she kissed Daria on the mouth.

They pushed against the garage door as they threw their distress at each other. Jane nibbled at Daria's throat and was received with growls of pleasure.

"The lady or the tiger?" Jane said.

"Didn't you say I turned out to be a little bit of both?" Daria replied.

"Whatever you may be at least I don't have to worry about sharing it with the rest of the jungle."

Daria grabbed Jane's hand much to her surprise and guided it under her trusted orange shirt.

Jane fluttered her fingers over Daria's breasts, being tender as a butterfly's wings. The distant thunder roared up on the house, almost in rhythm with Daria's moaning. When they were finished making love against the door Jane honored the occasion by carving the familiar block letters into the skeletal remains of the slaughtered guitar.

"T-C-D?" Daria said with a knit brow.

"Thunder cracked Daria." Jane answered while indulging in the aftertaste with a lick of her lips.

"Oh," Daria blushed.

"Don't worry no one could hear you over the storm. I didn't know your voice was capable of even getting that high."

Daria buried her cheeks in her soaked coat sleeves.

"If that's all it took to get you going like that I would've bought one of those sleep sound tapes from the grocery store years ago."

Daria perked up, "You _liked_ me for that long?"

"Why else would I end up with a jerk like Tom Sloane?"

"That didn't explain the other guys."

"Slim pickings at Lawndale High it would seem. Once I saw you I could not bring myself to put another girl on my arm. Fitting in was an easier way out. At least that way I got to still be around you. You didn't seem to be playing for the softball league when we met so I figured I wouldn't force the issue."

"Obviously," Daria said in her characteristic monotone.

"Disappointed?"

"With what?"

"That we stopped."

Daria pushed herself beyond her comfort zone as she spread her arms around Jane's shoulders and allowed her quivering hands to float on down to the waist of her tigress.

"My lady," Jane said, easing over the shorter woman, "has become the tiger."

Daria hugged Jane to her chest and kissed the soft wing of flesh under her chin.

Daria's lips trailed up to the ruby red lipstick she had longed to mingle with her chalky plain lip balm. Such was the strange feeling of these lips sliding together to form a pattern like the staccato of lightning trails painting the sky outside as each wave of thunder passed.

"Hoaaghhh," Jane cried out when Daria teased her naked navel. They were losing one piece of clothing after another as the rain carried on. Licks of thunder dripped down the concrete crevices between cracks in the floor. Daria's left eye twitched as it followed the crack to a dry space ten years later. She could still feel the lingering press of Jane's body as the weight bucked against her hips. Daria forgot she was not alone in the garage as she stifled a moan at the sound of approaching footsteps. Light sparked into the fluorescent bulbs above as the lights came on.

Daria turned to see Trent by the light switch, "This isn't a great place to rub one off. The bathroom door still locks."

Daria's face resembled the shade of eggplant when she peered up. He raised a brow and closed the door as he went back inside. She stared at the door and raised an arm to approach. She sighed, lowering it back down, "Well, maybe it is time to move on."

"That's what Stevie Nix said but she still tours with that Buckingham goof."

Daria saw Jane's face poke through the door as it went ajar. She found Daria zipping up her jeans beneath a warped poster. The sad poster limped against the wall as a back draft came in from the house.

"We should have a neighborhood bonfire before we leave." Jane said while ripping the last Mystik Spiral poster from the wall. The tattered corner brushed her fingers as Daria replied, "I'll hold a make-an-effigy-workshop."

In order to affirm her point Daria took the poster from Jane and began making a doll out of the shreds. Jane tossed a few empty boxes aside and as she coughed through dust she came upon a boom box covered in band stickers. Her eyes landed on Sneaker Pimps and worked its way down to the Lawndale Lovineers.

"Daria what's a lovineer?"

"I think an engineer of affection?"

"You can't be serious."

Daria heard a click and 'Go Your Own Way' crackled out of the speakers.

"Stevie Nix?"

Jane sang like a strangled chicken:

" _Loving you Daria_

 _Isn't the right thing to do_

 _How can I ever change things_

 _That I feel_

 _If I could_

 _Daria I'd give you my world_

 _How can I_

 _When you won't take it from me_

 _You can go your own way_

 _Go your own way_

 _You can call it_

 _Another lonely day_

 _You can go your own way_

 _Minnesota_

 _Go your own way_

 _New York_

 _Tell me why_

 _Everything turned around_

 _Packing up_

 _Seattle_

 _Shacking up's all you want to do_

 _If I could_

 _Daria I'd give you my world_

 _Open up_

 _Everything's waiting for you_

 _You can go your own way_

 _Wiley's Pick-N-Pack_

 _Go your own way_

 _Good Times Chinese_

 _You can call it_

 _Another lonely day_

 _Lawndale Medical Arts_

 _You can go your own way_

 _Dragon's Fiery Belly_

 _Go your own way Daria."_

Daria quirked a smile and felt her face muscles stiffen.

"Are those your Mom's tapes?"

"Yeah, want to listen to Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez?"

"I'll pass on burnt-out hippie tapes."

Jane went back inside to retrieve packing tape and mailing labels. The box of tapes was beaten with a rag as a cloud of dust rose.

"I don't think your Mom needs more junk in South America."

"I got a call from her and she says Dad and her are staying in Nicaragua next. I'll mail these tapes there and be done with it."

"Trent's old boom box too? Won't he get mad?

"That's my boom box, it'll go with us Daria."

The door opened again with Trent emerging to help Jane as she shook the packing tape roll with one arm. He stopped the pitiful sight by taking the tape from her and Daria approached from the floor. Trent frowned at the sight of his band poster doll. The garage rumbled open when he clicked the wall side switch. Jane clutched at Daria's hand leading her away. Several steps and they were inside. A casual breeze from the oven brought thoughts of Denise's homemade mac-and-cheese. Daria liked that the crust was made of crumbled potato chips and bits of bacon melted in place by crisp layer of cheese.. Denise was washing walls with bleach in the kitchen. The ammonia was barely overpowered by the oven. Jane and Daria gasped at the same time when they saw the fridge. The inside of it was cleaned out with nothing left but a crusty ketchup bottle and a carton of chocolate milk. They found the odd collection of cheap beer in the vegetable drawer. Jane threw away the ketchup out of respect for the fridge. Denise looked up, "Help yourselves ladies. Plenty of food warming in the oven."

"Thanks, will do." Jane said.

Daria got to work pulling out plates and utensils before Jane had a chance. They could hear Trent and his friends loading up Tank with a fresh pile of junk while they ate where the table had once been. Now there was a set of milk crates in its place for anyone to sit on.

"Denise can you check on Trent?" Jane called out when most of her food was gone.

"He's fine Jane. Let him handle it."

Jane's face twisted as Daria watched her eyebrows point to the garage door.

"I see. I'll give you two a minute."

Daria kept eating when Jane rose from the crate she sat on. Only the back of Jane showed to her when Jane searched through the cabinets for a folded piece of paper.

"Daria you can go your own way."

Jane tossed the mysteriously off-white paper onto Daria's lap.

"Please don't sing again." Daria replied as she stared at the stained paper folds. She saw multiple coffee rings and hard cheese melted into the fibers. There were also scribbles of crayon to finish off the look.

"You drew that didn't you?" Daria pointed to a curly blue line that looked like a bird.

"Daria I've had a lot of time to think about this."

"About what?"

"Open it."

Daria did as she was told and at the top she found a date, **8/1/1976** , under a coffee ring. The signatures of the Lane parents were far below at the bottom.

"Its the deed to the house?"

"Yeah I want to offer you the house Daria."

"That's nonsense."

"You can stay here in Lawndale and do as you like."

"Go my own way?"

"Stay here and you don't have to change."

"Why are you doing this Jane."

"Daria we've been through hell and back together but I don't know where you are right now. It's like you're not home and when you are you're getting drunk in the tub."

"Jane please we've been together ten years."

"You have until tomorrow night to decide. There's a seat for you in the Tank once we pull away from the driveway. But with that seat you agree to get out of this funk you've been in ever since we got in that accident. I need you Daria and I know you're still in there."

"You want me to just shove all this under the rug and what?"

"I want you to let go of your guilt. You wear it like a suit of armor."

Daria's eyes watered at the signature space where the deed would be turned over to a new owner.

"Does Trent know you're trying to do this?"

"No."

"So you'd go behind his back like this and forfeit all the money from selling the house?"

"He wants me to break up with you."

"An ultimatum then?"

"Call it what you like but I am giving you a choice. Choose to leave the past behind or don't? I'll love you no matter what you choose but I need a woman to share my life with and you've been acting like a girl."

Jane left the kitchen.


	9. Chapter Eight Sharks Won't Stay Asleep

**Damittttttttt Daria**

 **Chapter Eight**

 **Sharks Won't Stay Asleep**

A stained mattress, a lamp without a shade, a pair of tarnished silver candlesticks, chunks of candle wax melted down the sides of each stick and stuck to the surface of a beat-up dresser. This made up the surroundings of Wind's old room. Daria had not taken shelter here since high school. Wind had stripped it of all useable objects after the fourth divorce. That much had been made clear when Daria found an overdue bill on the mattress for marriage counseling dated back to 2010. She gave Wind a silent prayer because despite being an atheist she felt he needed the pity as the old bill crinkled under her clenching fist. She licked her lips when she reminded herself that she really feared the end of her own relationship and did not care much for the brother-in-law she would probably never have. _Never have._

Daria shuddered at the thought as she tripped forward on her shoe. Her whole body hurled towards the ratty carpet below. Her elbows landed first followed by the rest of her. Her hair was the last to trail behind as it splashed over her back in Auburn streaks. She sighed at the strain in her arms as the pain crawled up into her shoulders.

"Dammit."

As if the room was answering back a paper fell on her head.

She blew it off from where it hung on her forehead by a fold.

"Not now." Daria shouted when a knock came to the door.

The deed to the house fell in front of her as the door swung open.

"Daria what're you doing in here?"

"Trent?"

He reached a hand down to help her up.

"I've taken a vow of celibacy and this was the only convent willing to take me."

Trent smirked, "I can't think of what's sadder. Wind crying in this room or how the room looks now."

"Well it's always been here for him."

Trent frowned.

"Why are you here?"

"Janey spilled her guts to me."

"That's usually my job." Daria's grip tightened on the deed hidden behind her back.

"I know it got pretty awkward. That's why I've come looking for you."

Daria backed up.

"I found this in your stuff. It was shoved in the back seat of my car under all your shirts."

Daria nearly fainted at the sight of it as the room spun around Trent's hand. A gold band with a twisting pattern of tiger stripes engraved over the circlet was pinched between Trent's fingers. She reached for what was left of the bed and landed without grace. She felt beads of sweat prickle her forehead, "Why were you cleaning out your car?"

"We're moving Daria! Now explain this."

Daria had never seen Trent capable of so much rage as his eyes narrowed down at her. She felt her stomach drop to her feet as she reached for the ring. He ignored her reach for it. She bit down on her tongue to hold back the water in her eyes. The blood trickled out of the nick she made with her teeth. Trent dug his socked feet into the carpet. Daria swallowed, "It was- IS for **JANE**."

"You want to marry her?"

"I had it made when we were still in Boston and I was supposed to give it to her at the Sox game."

"Janey doesn't like baseball."

"That is not why. You would have to know the meaning behind all that to understand."

"Wait she said you were supposed to go see one because you had never been there before."

"She is the one whose wanted to go see a live baseball game. She was too embarrassed to tell you so she blamed it on me."

"So you were going to use it as an excuse to propose to her?"

"Yeah and then we went and got hit by a car a week later. I had tickets for the week after and I was going to surprise her."

"But there's more?"

"I have told you what you wanted to know. Is that not enough?"

"Of course not. You've been moping around this house for months and you won't do us the decency of explaining _why."_

"Jane may not ever be able to paint again Trent and I put her on that bike."

"You're lying. I can see it when your lip twitches like that. Whatever it is you've been hiding spill it now."

"I have not even reached out to Jane about all this."

"I know. That's what's ruining you both."

"Snarkerbergs offered me a position outside Boston and my coworker got jealous. He got into a fist fight with me in the break room and we were both sent home on unpaid leave."

Trent handed the ring over.

He turned his back to her, "Fix this Daria."

Wind's door closed.

Daria felt the grooves in the gold band as she imagined picking it up from the jeweler. The glass windows had been stained with rain from the day before and the Boston Summer had been so muggy that day that the shirt Daria had on pasted to her sweat soaked body. She had walked three miles so Jane would not see the car gone. She had been careful to send Jane away from home for the day just in case. The jeweler was an ebony skinned woman with a thick afro of dark hair pulled back by a fuchsia scarf. Whiskey colored eyes were set into the creases of her beautiful face as she prepared the box for Daria's order. Daria mumbled like an idiot when she handed over her credit card and the jeweler simply smiled in return. They never exchanged more than a glance with Daria so nervous. The jeweler finally said, "I'm sure she'll do just fine whoever the lucky lady is but if you hand over a ring looking like that she won't trust in your confidence." Daria was taken aback by the jeweler getting so familiar with her and grumbled in her general direction as she signed the receipt. She stared into the inside of the wedding band and saw the quote engraved into it, " _ **Life is very long. -T.S. Elliot."**_

The light flickered in the lamp and the bulb went out. Daria fell asleep in the dark as she sunk into the bed. The insides of her eyelids showed yellow spots. The spots floated across as she fell deeper and deeper into dreams. Her general awareness faded as the edges of oblivion became known by flashes of a happier time. Jane was there. They were cornered against a brick wall by the groping of each other's bodies as their clothes went missing. This brick wall stood adjacent to a small kitchen where the oven filled the open loft with the smell of roasting turkey. When all the clothes were spread around them the timer beeped. Daria groaned at the sound just as Jane bit her neck.

"It'll burn." Jane said.

"Mmmrm." Daria rolled out from under Jane, grabbing for her shirt.

After slipping on the shirt she grabbed the oven mitts and pulled the roast out.

Jane walked naked across the floor to snake her arms around Jane's waist.

"Did you make potatoes?"

"With lots of butter. Just how you like it."

"There's baby spinach in the salad bowl."

"Blue cheese dressing?"

Jane dipped a finger in the cup of dressing on the counter and circled Daria's lips, smothering it with dressing, and taking a bite of Daria. Daria managed to lay out some plates before losing her shirt again.

"The roast will get cold." Daria murmured between mouthfuls of Jane.

"Let it."

Daria chuckled and pushed Jane out of the way while she got dinner on the table. When Jane took a seat at the table Daria wandered into the other room to get out something she had hid under the mattress of their queen-sized bed. The gold band dropped onto the floor and made a clatter on the wood. Daria's hands shook.

"Daria?" Jane called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Daria shoved the band back under the mattress and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Daria asked as Jane came out from the hallway past their bathroom door.

Daria blushed, "Nothing."

She felt her cheeks heat up and could feel that same fever carry into 2012. Daria woke up and said to herself, "I've tried to propose twice now. Maybe my third time will be a charm."

She curled her hand around the band and felt the weight of it for the first time. Daria pawed the wall with her feet in the dark. She could smell the mold in the wall and the carpet with it. A heavy sigh and she was up off the mattress. She could hear the Tank's engine outside. She wanted to go back and hide in Wind's room. She could hear yelling down the hall.

"We go tomorrow. I won't stay here another day." Jane bellowed from inside her bedroom.

"But Janey." Trent whined as she heard Trent's books drop into a box.

"Jesse already offered his extra bedroom and a couch."

"Janey we can stay in this house at least until they're ready to put it on the market."

"No."

Daria jerked against the wall in the hallway, "bad idea, bad idea, bad idea."

"Daria?"

Daria slapped her hands over her mouth. Jane came creeping out into the dark hall. Daria started to run back towards Wind's room. The wedding band dropped and bounced off the carpet onto Jane's foot. She saw the gold shimmer when Daria tried to reach for it. Jane's eyes bugged out of her skull when she saw the engravings inside and out. The tiger stripes caused her eyes to narrow, going back and forth from Daria to the ring.

"Ugh, Jane will you marry me?"

Jane's eyes curved up like half-moons and her smile twisted down. She slipped the ring on her left finger once her right hand was all the way out of its sling.

"Well it fits." Jane said.

"I-" Daria started to speak when Jane's lips locked on her.

Later that morning started with boxes being flung into all three cars as Jesse, Max, and Nicholas helped Trent load what little they would keep. The rest of the furniture was being hauled away by a junk collection agency, including the remains of Wind's bedroom. Daria silently thanked that lamp with no shade as it was carried out by a uniformed woman. She made sure to keep watch over Jane so the bad arm would not see any use. It all seemed unreal when she heard the door to Tank slam.


End file.
